Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,

²just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,

³it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

⁴that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

⁸Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,

⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

¹⁵for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,

¹⁷and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

¹⁹And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

²⁰And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

²¹And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.

²²And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.

²³And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

²⁴After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,

²⁵“Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.

²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

²⁹But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

³⁰And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

³¹And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,

³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God.

³⁶And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.”

³⁸And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

³⁹In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,

⁴⁰and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

⁴²and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴³And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

⁴⁶And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

⁴⁹for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

⁵⁰And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

⁵²he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;

⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

⁵⁸And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father,

⁶⁰but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”

⁶¹And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.”

⁶²And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.

⁶³And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.

⁶⁴And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

⁶⁵And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,

⁶⁶and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people

⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

⁷¹that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

⁷⁹to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff,

³and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house.

⁴Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.”

⁶Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

⁷And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

⁸On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”

¹¹Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.

¹²And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

¹³Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

⁴Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

⁵For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

⁷Therefore do not become partners with them;

⁸for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

⁹(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

¹⁰and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

¹³But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,

¹⁴for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

¹⁶making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

¹⁸And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

¹⁹addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

²⁰giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

²¹submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

²²Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

²⁷so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

²⁸In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

³⁰because we are members of his body.

³¹“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

³³However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

¹“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

³Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

⁴Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

⁵Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years,

⁶that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

⁷although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

⁸Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.

⁹Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

¹⁴If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

¹⁶And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.

¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

¹⁹and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

²¹before I go — and I shall not return — to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

²²the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

¹Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!

²Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!

³May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

²Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.

³The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

⁴A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

⁵He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

⁶Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

⁷The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

¹⁰Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin.

¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

¹²Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

¹³On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

¹⁴The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.

¹⁵A rich man's wealth is his strong city; the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

¹⁶The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin.

¹⁷Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.

¹⁸The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.

¹⁹When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.

²²The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

²³Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.

²⁴What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

²⁵When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.

²⁶Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

²⁷The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

²⁸The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.

³⁰The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

³¹The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

³²The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

¹Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.”

²So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land.

⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.”

⁵And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”

⁶And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”

⁷Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,”

⁸the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”

⁹So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”

¹⁰And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die.”

¹¹And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept.

¹²And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.”

¹⁴Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.”

¹⁵But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

¹⁶In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign.

¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁹Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.

²⁰In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own.

²¹Then Joram passed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, but his army fled home.

²²So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

²³Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁴So Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign.

²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah; she was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

²⁷He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.

²⁸He went with Joram the son of Ahab to make war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram.

²⁹And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

¹The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

²And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;

³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’

⁴Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

⁵And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.

⁶You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it.

⁸You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord GOD.

⁹And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you.

¹⁰You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

¹¹This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel,

¹²and you shall know that I am the LORD. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

¹³And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

¹⁴And the word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁵“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.’

¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’

¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’

¹⁸And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

¹⁹And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

²⁰that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²¹But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

²²Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

²³And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city.

²⁴And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.

²⁵And I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.

¹“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,

⁵as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me.

⁷And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’

¹¹And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.

¹²“And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth;

¹⁵for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

²⁰And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

²¹And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

²²Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”

²³And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

²⁴the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

²⁵But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.”

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

³⁰But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.