Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum.

²At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.

³When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave.

⁴So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said,

⁵“for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”

⁶So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor.

⁷I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.

⁸I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

⁹When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”

¹⁰And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

¹¹Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.

¹²A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.

¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.

¹⁴Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”

¹⁵Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.”

¹⁷And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.

¹⁸The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples,

¹⁹and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

²⁰John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”

²¹At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind.

²²Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard — the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

²³And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me. ”

²⁴After John’s disciples left, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind?

²⁵Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces.

²⁶Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet.

²⁷John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’

²⁸I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!”

²⁹When they heard this, all the people — even the tax collectors — agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John.

³⁰But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

³¹“To what can I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. “How can I describe them?

³²They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t weep.’

³³For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’

³⁴The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’

³⁵But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. ”

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.

³⁷When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.

³⁸Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

⁴¹Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.

⁴²But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

⁴⁶You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷“I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

¹Then Balaam said to King Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.”

²Balak followed his instructions, and the two of them sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings, and I will go to see if the LORD will respond to me. Then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So Balaam went alone to the top of a bare hill,

⁴and God met him there. Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.”

⁵The LORD gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”

⁶So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab.

⁷This was the message Balaam delivered: “Balak summoned me to come from Aram; the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me! Come and announce Israel’s doom.’

⁸But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom the LORD has not condemned?

⁹I see them from the cliff tops; I watch them from the hills. I see a people who live by themselves, set apart from other nations.

¹⁰Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs.”

¹¹Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”

¹²But Balaam replied, “I will speak only the message that the LORD puts in my mouth.”

¹³Then King Balak told him, “Come with me to another place. There you will see another part of the nation of Israel, but not all of them. Curse at least that many!”

¹⁴So Balak took Balaam to the plateau of Zophim on Pisgah Peak. He built seven altars there and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offerings while I go over there to meet the LORD.”

¹⁶And the LORD met Balaam and gave him a message. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”

¹⁷So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked eagerly.

¹⁸This was the message Balaam delivered: “Rise up, Balak, and listen! Hear me, son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

²⁰Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!

²¹No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob; no trouble is in store for Israel. For the LORD their God is with them; he has been proclaimed their king.

²²God brought them out of Egypt; for them he is as strong as a wild ox.

²³No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel. For now it will be said of Jacob, ‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’

²⁴These people rise up like a lioness, like a majestic lion rousing itself. They refuse to rest until they have feasted on prey, drinking the blood of the slaughtered!”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Fine, but if you won’t curse them, at least don’t bless them!”

²⁶But Balaam replied to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you that I can do only what the LORD tells me?”

²⁷Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.”

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, overlooking the wasteland.

²⁹Balaam again told Balak, “Build me seven altars, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.”

³⁰So Balak did as Balaam ordered and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.

¹This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

²We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.

³We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,

⁵which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

⁶This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

⁷You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.

⁸He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

⁹So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

¹⁰Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

¹¹We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,

¹²always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

¹³For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

¹⁴who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

¹⁵Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

¹⁶for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

¹⁷He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

¹⁸Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

¹⁹For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

²⁰and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

²¹This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

²²Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

²³But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

²⁴I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

²⁵God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.

²⁶This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people.

²⁷For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

²⁸So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.

²⁹That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

¹I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

²Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

³This is good and pleases God our Savior,

⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

⁵For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity — the man Christ Jesus.

⁶He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

⁷And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating — just telling the truth.

⁸In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

⁹And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

¹⁰For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.

¹¹Women should learn quietly and submissively.

¹²I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

¹³For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve.

¹⁴And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.

¹⁵But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

¹Then Job spoke again:

²“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are!

³Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking?

⁴I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.

⁵But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief.

⁶Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.

⁷“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family.

⁸As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.

⁹God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes.

¹⁰People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me.

¹¹God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.

¹²“I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target,

¹³and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood.

¹⁴Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior.

¹⁵I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust.

¹⁶My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes.

¹⁷Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf.

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high.

²⁰My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.

²¹I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.

²²For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.

¹O LORD, rescue me from evil people. Protect me from those who are violent,

²those who plot evil in their hearts and stir up trouble all day long.

³Their tongues sting like a snake; the venom of a viper drips from their lips. Interlude

⁴O LORD, keep me out of the hands of the wicked. Protect me from those who are violent, for they are plotting against me.

⁵The proud have set a trap to catch me; they have stretched out a net; they have placed traps all along the way. Interlude

⁶I said to the LORD, “You are my God!” Listen, O LORD, to my cries for mercy!

⁷O Sovereign LORD, the strong one who rescued me, you protected me on the day of battle.

⁸LORD, do not let evil people have their way. Do not let their evil schemes succeed, or they will become proud. Interlude

⁹Let my enemies be destroyed by the very evil they have planned for me.

¹⁰Let burning coals fall down on their heads. Let them be thrown into the fire or into watery pits from which they can’t escape.

¹¹Don’t let liars prosper here in our land. Cause great disasters to fall on the violent.

¹²But I know the LORD will help those they persecute; he will give justice to the poor.

¹³Surely righteous people are praising your name; the godly will live in your presence.

¹We can make our own plans, but the LORD gives the right answer.

²People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives.

³Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.

⁴The LORD has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster.

⁵The LORD detests the proud; they will surely be punished.

⁶Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. By fearing the LORD, people avoid evil.

⁷When people’s lives please the LORD, even their enemies are at peace with them.

⁸Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest.

⁹We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

¹⁰The king speaks with divine wisdom; he must never judge unfairly.

¹¹The LORD demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.

¹²A king detests wrongdoing, for his rule is built on justice.

¹³The king is pleased with words from righteous lips; he loves those who speak honestly.

¹⁴The anger of the king is a deadly threat; the wise will try to appease it.

¹⁵When the king smiles, there is life; his favor refreshes like a spring rain.

¹⁶How much better to get wisdom than gold, and good judgment than silver!

¹⁷The path of the virtuous leads away from evil; whoever follows that path is safe.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

¹⁹Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud.

²⁰Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the LORD will be joyful.

²¹The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive.

²²Discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it, but discipline is wasted on fools.

²³From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive.

²⁴Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

²⁵There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

²⁶It is good for workers to have an appetite; an empty stomach drives them on.

²⁷Scoundrels create trouble; their words are a destructive blaze.

²⁸A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.

²⁹Violent people mislead their companions, leading them down a harmful path.

³⁰With narrowed eyes, people plot evil; with a smirk, they plan their mischief.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.

³²Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

³³We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.

¹Amaziah son of Joash began to rule over Judah in the second year of the reign of King Jehoash of Israel.

²Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.

³Amaziah did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, but not like his ancestor David. Instead, he followed the example of his father, Joash.

⁴Amaziah did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.

⁵When Amaziah was well established as king, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father.

⁶However, he did not kill the children of the assassins, for he obeyed the command of the LORD as written by Moses in the Book of the Law: “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.”

⁷Amaziah also killed 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He also conquered Sela and changed its name to Joktheel, as it is called to this day.

⁸One day Amaziah sent messengers with this challenge to Israel’s king Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu: “Come and meet me in battle!”

⁹But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar tree: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ But just then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it!

¹⁰“You have indeed defeated Edom, and you are proud of it. But be content with your victory and stay at home! Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?”

¹¹But Amaziah refused to listen, so King Jehoash of Israel mobilized his army against King Amaziah of Judah. The two armies drew up their battle lines at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

¹²Judah was routed by the army of Israel, and its army scattered and fled for home.

¹³King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s king, Amaziah son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. Then he marched to Jerusalem, where he demolished 600 feet of Jerusalem’s wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

¹⁴He carried off all the gold and silver and all the articles from the Temple of the LORD. He also seized the treasures from the royal palace, along with hostages, and then returned to Samaria.

¹⁵The rest of the events in Jehoash’s reign and everything he did, including the extent of his power and his war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶When Jehoash died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam II became the next king.

¹⁷King Amaziah of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash of Israel.

¹⁸The rest of the events in Amaziah’s reign are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.

¹⁹There was a conspiracy against Amaziah’s life in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But his enemies sent assassins after him, and they killed him there.

²⁰They brought his body back to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David.

²¹All the people of Judah had crowned Amaziah’s sixteen-year-old son, Uzziah, as king in place of his father, Amaziah.

²²After his father’s death, Uzziah rebuilt the town of Elath and restored it to Judah.

²³Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, began to rule over Israel in the fifteenth year of King Amaziah’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria forty-one years.

²⁴He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit.

²⁵Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

²⁶For the LORD saw the bitter suffering of everyone in Israel, and that there was no one in Israel, slave or free, to help them.

²⁷And because the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel completely, he used Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, to save them.

²⁸The rest of the events in the reign of Jeroboam II and everything he did — including the extent of his power, his wars, and how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah — are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

²⁹When Jeroboam II died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then his son Zechariah became the next king.

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

²“Son of man, give this riddle, and tell this story to the people of Israel.

³Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: “A great eagle with broad wings and long feathers, covered with many-colored plumage, came to Lebanon. He seized the top of a cedar tree

⁴and plucked off its highest branch. He carried it away to a city filled with merchants. He planted it in a city of traders.

⁵He also took a seedling from the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside a broad river, where it could grow like a willow tree.

⁶It took root there and grew into a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned up toward the eagle, and its roots grew down into the ground. It produced strong branches and put out shoots.

⁷But then another great eagle came with broad wings and full plumage. So the vine now sent its roots and branches toward him for water,

⁸even though it was already planted in good soil and had plenty of water so it could grow into a splendid vine and produce rich leaves and luscious fruit.

⁹“So now the Sovereign LORD asks: Will this vine grow and prosper? No! I will pull it up, roots and all! I will cut off its fruit and let its leaves wither and die. I will pull it up easily without a strong arm or a large army.

¹⁰But when the vine is transplanted, will it thrive? No, it will wither away when the east wind blows against it. It will die in the same good soil where it had grown so well.”

¹¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

¹²“Say to these rebels of Israel: Don’t you understand the meaning of this riddle of the eagles? The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took away her king and princes, and brought them to Babylon.

¹³He made a treaty with a member of the royal family and forced him to take an oath of loyalty. He also exiled Israel’s most influential leaders,

¹⁴so Israel would not become strong again and revolt. Only by keeping her treaty with Babylon could Israel survive.

¹⁵“Nevertheless, this man of Israel’s royal family rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to request a great army and many horses. Can Israel break her sworn treaties like that and get away with it?

¹⁶No! For as surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, the king of Israel will die in Babylon, the land of the king who put him in power and whose treaty he disregarded and broke.

¹⁷Pharaoh and all his mighty army will fail to help Israel when the king of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem again and destroys many lives.

¹⁸For the king of Israel disregarded his treaty and broke it after swearing to obey; therefore, he will not escape.

¹⁹“So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As surely as I live, I will punish him for breaking my covenant and disregarding the solemn oath he made in my name.

²⁰I will throw my net over him and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and put him on trial for this treason against me.

²¹And all his best warriors will be killed in battle, and those who survive will be scattered to the four winds. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken.

²²“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take a branch from the top of a tall cedar, and I will plant it on the top of Israel’s highest mountain.

²³It will become a majestic cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed. Birds of every sort will nest in it, finding shelter in the shade of its branches.

²⁴And all the trees will know that it is I, the LORD, who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall. It is I who makes the green tree wither and gives the dead tree new life. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do what I said!”

¹Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.

²The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.

⁴The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”

⁵But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.

⁶The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

⁷Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days.

⁸As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.

¹⁰As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

¹¹It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island — an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

¹²Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.

¹³From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷Three days after Paul’s arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors.

¹⁸The Romans tried me and wanted to release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence.

¹⁹But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people.

²⁰I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel — the Messiah — has already come.”

²¹They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here.

²²But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”

²³So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.

²⁴Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,

²⁶‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

²⁷For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes — so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

²⁸So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”

²⁹

³⁰For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,

³¹boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.