Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

³And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’ ”

⁵And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

⁶And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

⁷Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

⁸Jesus replied to him, “It is written: ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

⁹And he brought Him into Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

¹⁰for it is written: ‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS ORDERS CONCERNING YOU, TO PROTECT YOU,’

¹¹and, ‘ON their hands they will lift YOU UP, SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been stated, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

¹³And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

¹⁴And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region.

¹⁵And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

¹⁷And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

²⁰And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him.

²¹Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in yourhearing.”

²²And all the people were speaking well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from His lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³And He said to them, “No doubt you willquote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”

²⁴But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

²⁵But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when asevere famine came over all the land;

²⁶and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only toZarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

²⁷And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them wascleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

²⁹and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff.

³⁰But He passed through their midst and went on His way.

³¹And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee; and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

³²and they were amazed at His teaching, because His message was delivered with authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴“Leave us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.

³⁶And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

³⁷And the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

³⁸Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.

³⁹And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

⁴⁰Now while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was laying His hands on each one of them and healing them.

⁴¹Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” And yet He was rebuking them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

⁴²Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

⁴³But He said to them, “I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, because I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

¹Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

²There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron.

³Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!

⁴Why then have you brought the LORD’S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die here?

⁵Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink!”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them;

⁷then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁸“Take the staff; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it shall yield its water. So you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and have the congregation and their livestock drink.”

⁹So Moses took the staff from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him;

¹⁰and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

¹³Those were called the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel argued with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel has said: ‘You know all the hardship that has overtaken us;

¹⁵that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.

¹⁶But when we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice and sent an angel, and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

¹⁷Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s road, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸Edom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through us, or I will come out with the sword against you.”

¹⁹Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the road, and if I and my livestock do drink any of your water, then I will pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, nothing more.”

²⁰But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy force and a strong hand.

²¹So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; then Israel turned away from him.

²²Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

²³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor.

²⁶Then strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people and will die there.”

²⁷So Moses did just as the LORD had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

²⁸And after Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.

¹Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

²make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

³Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;

⁴do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

⁷but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

⁹For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

¹³for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without complaining or arguments;

¹⁵so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

¹⁶holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

¹⁸You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

¹⁹But I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

²⁰For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

²¹For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

²²But you know of his proven character, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

²³Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me;

²⁴and I trust in the Lord that I myself will also be coming shortly.

²⁵But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need,

²⁶because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

²⁷For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

²⁹Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold people like him in high regard,

³⁰because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to compensate for your absence in your service to me.

¹“Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³“But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God.

⁴But you smear me with lies; You are all worthless physicians.

⁵Oh that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!

⁶Please hear my argument, And give your attention to the contentions of my lips.

⁷Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him?

⁸Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?

⁹Will it go well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

¹⁰He will certainly punish you If you secretly show partiality.

¹¹Will His majesty not terrify you, And the dread of Him fall upon you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Be silent before me so that I may speak; Then let come upon me what may.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands?

¹⁵Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

¹⁶This also will be my salvation, For a godless person cannot come before His presence.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my speech, And let my declaration fill your ears.

¹⁸Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Who could contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰“Only two things I ask that You do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face:

²¹Remove Your hand from me, And may the dread of You not terrify me.

²²Then call and I will answer; Or let me speak, then reply to me.

²³How many are my guilty deeds and sins? Make known to me my wrongdoing and my sin.

²⁴Why do You hide Your face And consider me Your enemy?

²⁵Will You scare away a scattered leaf? Or will You pursue the dry chaff?

²⁶For You write bitter things against me And make me inherit the guilty deeds of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks And watch all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet,

²⁸While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion.

²Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.

³For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors, jubilation, saying, “Sing for us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, May my right hand forget its skill.

⁶May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, LORD, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Those who said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare To its foundation!”

⁸Daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, Blessed will be one who repays you With the retribution with which you have repaid us.

⁹Blessed will be one who seizes and dashes your children Against the rock.

¹A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of a person’s mouth he enjoys good, But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

³One who guards his mouth protects his life; One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the lazy one craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made prosperous.

⁵A righteous person hates a false statement, But a wicked person acts disgustingly and shamefully.

⁶Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless, But wickedness brings the sinner to ruin.

⁷There is one who pretends to be rich but has nothing; Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a person’s life is his wealth, But the poor hears no rebuke.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰Through overconfidence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

¹¹Wealth obtained from nothing dwindles, But one who gathers by labor increases it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³One who despises the word will do badly, But one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn aside from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is their own disaster.

¹⁶Every prudent person acts with knowledge, But a fool displays foolishness.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into adversity, But a faithful messenger brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame will come to one who neglects discipline, But one who complies with rebuke will be honored.

¹⁹Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise people will be wise, But a companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.

²²A good person leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, And the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous.

²³Abundant food is in the uncultivated ground of the poor, But it is swept away by injustice.

²⁴He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

²⁵The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, But the stomach of the wicked is in need.

¹When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and eliminated all the royal children.

²But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and abducted him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.

³So he was kept hidden with her in the house of the LORD for six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

⁴Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent orders and brought the captains of hundreds of the Carites and of the guards, and brought them to himself at the house of the LORD. Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the house of the LORD, and showed them the king’s son.

⁵And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house

⁶(a third also shall be at the gate Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall keep watch over the house for defense.

⁷And two parts of you, all who go out on the Sabbath, shall also keep watch over the house of the LORD for the king.

⁸Then you shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes within the ranks shall be put to death. And you are to be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”

⁹So the captains of hundreds acted in accordance with everything that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the Sabbath, along with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

¹⁰Then the priest gave the captains of hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD.

¹¹The guards stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house, around the king.

¹²Then he brought the king’s son out, and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and of the people, she came to the people at the house of the LORD.

¹⁴And she looked, and behold, the king was standing by the pillar according to the custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king; and all the people of the land were joyful and were blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!”

¹⁵And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were appointed over the army and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her, put to death with the sword!” For the priest said, “She is not to be put to death at the house of the LORD.”

¹⁶So they seized her, and when they brought her to the horses’ entrance of the king’s house, she was put to death there.

¹⁷Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people, that they would be the LORD’S people, and between the king and the people.

¹⁸And all the people of the land came to the house of Baal and tore it down; they thoroughly smashed his altars and his images in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. Then the priest appointed sentries over the house of the LORD.

¹⁹And he took the captains of hundreds and the Carites, and the guards and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, and came by way of the gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.

²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was peaceful. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king’s house.

²¹Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

¹Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.

²And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

³“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put in front of their faces the stumbling block of their wrongdoing. Should I let Myself be consulted by them at all?

⁴Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Anyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts in front of his face the stumbling block of his wrongdoing, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will let Myself answer him in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,

⁵in order to take hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who have turned away from Me due to all their idols.” ’

⁶“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.

⁷For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who reside in Israel, who deserts Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts in front of his face the stumbling block of his wrongdoing, and then comes to the prophet to request something of Me for himself, I the LORD will let Myself answer him Myself.

⁸I will set My face against that person and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will eliminate him from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD.

⁹“But if the prophet is persuaded so that he speaks a word, it is I, the LORD, who have persuaded that prophet; and I will stretch out My hand against him and eliminate him from among My people Israel.

¹⁰And they will bear the punishment for their wrongdoing; as the wrongdoing of the inquirer is, so the wrongdoing of the prophet will be,

¹¹in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their offenses. So they will be My people, and I shall be their God,” ’ declares the Lord GOD.”

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹³“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life,

¹⁴even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save themselves,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁵“If I were to cause vicious animals to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the animals,

¹⁶though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the country would be desolate.

¹⁷Or if I were to bring a sword on that country and say, ‘A sword is to pass through the country,’ and I eliminated human and animal life from it,

¹⁸even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved.

¹⁹Or if I were to send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it,

²⁰even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹For this is what the Lord GOD says: “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it!

²²Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come out to you, and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the disaster which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it.

²³Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done without reason whatever I did to it,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹Festus, then, after arriving in the province, went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea three days later.

²And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with Festus,

³requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way).

⁴Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea, and that he himself was about to leave shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he *said, “have the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, have them bring charges against him.”

⁶After Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought.

⁷After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many, and serious, charges against him which they could not prove,

⁸while Paul said in his own defense, “I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.”

⁹But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?”

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.

¹¹If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea, paying their respects to Festus.

¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix;

¹⁵and when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

¹⁶I replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any person before the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges.

¹⁷So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered that the man be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not begin bringing any charges against him of crimes that I suspected,

¹⁹but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰And being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

²³So, on the next day when Agrippa and Bernice came amid great pomp and entered the auditorium, accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought before them.

²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had committed nothing deserving death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

²⁶Yet, I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”