Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

³Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.”

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.”

⁵But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.”

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

⁷And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.

⁹He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

¹¹Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

¹³Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

¹⁵Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death.

¹⁶I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!”

¹⁹(This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again;

²¹but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!”

²²A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.”

²³But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.

²⁴So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.

²⁵He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

²⁸But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’

³¹For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴[33] [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,

³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

⁴⁴It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,

⁴⁵while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

⁴⁶Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

⁴⁸And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.

⁴⁹But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council,

⁵¹had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.

⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid.

⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

⁵⁶Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

¹When we headed up the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

²The LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³So the LORD our God also handed over to us King Og of Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was left.

⁴At that time we captured all his towns; there was no citadel that we did not take from them — sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages.

⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and children.

⁷But all the livestock and the plunder of the towns we kept as spoil for ourselves.

⁸So at that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon

⁹(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir),

¹⁰all the towns of the tableland, the whole of Gilead, and all of Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

¹¹(Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide.)

¹²As for the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer, that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns,

¹³and I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom. (The whole region of Argob: all that portion of Bashan used to be called a land of Rephaim;

¹⁴Jair the Manassite acquired the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named them — that is, Bashan — after himself, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)

¹⁵To Machir I gave Gilead.

¹⁶And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon, with the middle of the wadi as a boundary, and up to the Jabbok, the wadi being boundary of the Ammonites;

¹⁷the Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸At that time, I charged you as follows: “Although the LORD your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin.

¹⁹Only your wives, your children, and your livestock — I know that you have much livestock — shall stay behind in the towns that I have given to you.

²⁰When the LORD gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the LORD your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.”

²¹And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

²²Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.”

²³At that time, too, I entreated the LORD, saying:

²⁴“O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours!

²⁵Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.”

²⁶But the LORD was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The LORD said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again!

²⁷Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

²⁸But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.”

²⁹So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

¹Let mutual love continue.

²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

³Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

⁴Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

⁶So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

⁷Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them.

¹⁰We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat.

¹¹For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

¹²Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood.

¹³Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured.

¹⁴For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

¹⁶Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing — for that would be harmful to you.

¹⁸Pray for us; we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.

¹⁹I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

²¹make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

²³I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he comes in time, he will be with me when I see you.

²⁴Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings.

²⁵Grace be with all of you.

¹Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?

²You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

⁶But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

¹²There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”

¹⁴Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God;

³he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he.

⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

⁶Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.

⁹It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“See, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.

¹²I gave you my attention, but there was in fact no one that confuted Job, no one among you that answered his words.

¹³Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a human.’

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed, they answer no more; they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And am I to wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will give my answer; I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

¹⁹My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

²⁰I must speak, so that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any person or use flattery toward anyone.

²²For I do not know how to flatter — or my Maker would soon put an end to me!

¹O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath.

²Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.

³My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O LORD — how long?

⁴Turn, O LORD, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.

⁵For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?

⁶I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.

⁷My eyes waste away because of grief; they grow weak because of all my foes.

⁸Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

⁹The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹⁰All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror; they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.

¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

²For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight,

³for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young —

⁵let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill,

⁶to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching;

⁹for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

¹⁰My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent;

¹²like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty.

¹⁴Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” —

¹⁵my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths;

¹⁶for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on;

¹⁸yet they lie in wait — to kill themselves! and set an ambush — for their own lives!

¹⁹Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.

²¹At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

²³Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,

²⁵and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you,

²⁷when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

³⁰would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof,

³¹therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices.

³²For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

³³but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”

¹The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. (He was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright;

²though Judah became prominent among his brothers and a ruler came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph.)

³The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

⁴The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,

⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,

⁶Beerah his son, whom King Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chieftain of the Reubenites.

⁷And his kindred by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,

⁸and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel, who lived in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.

⁹He also lived to the east as far as the beginning of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

¹⁰And in the days of Saul they made war on the Hagrites, who fell by their hand; and they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.

¹¹The sons of Gad lived beside them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

¹²Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.

¹³And their kindred according to their clans: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber, seven.

¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz;

¹⁵Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their clan;

¹⁶and they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasture lands of Sharon to their limits.

¹⁷All of these were enrolled by genealogies in the days of King Jotham of Judah, and in the days of King Jeroboam of Israel.

¹⁸The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant warriors, who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty, ready for service.

¹⁹They made war on the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab;

²⁰and when they received help against them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried to God in the battle, and he granted their entreaty because they trusted in him.

²¹They captured their livestock: fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, two thousand donkeys, and one hundred thousand captives.

²²Many fell slain, because the war was of God. And they lived in their territory until the exile.

²³The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land; they were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.

²⁴These were the heads of their clans: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their clans.

²⁵But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors, and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

²⁶So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of King Pul of Assyria, the spirit of King Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria, and he carried them away, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²O Mortal, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one of their number as their sentinel;

³and if the sentinel sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people;

⁴then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own heads.

⁵They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would have saved their lives.

⁶But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at the sentinel’s hand.

⁷So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

⁸If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.

⁹But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

¹⁰Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?”

¹¹Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

¹²And you, mortal, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness when they sin.

¹³Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.

¹⁴Again, though I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right —

¹⁵if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity — they shall surely live, they shall not die.

¹⁶None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live.

¹⁷Yet your people say, “The way of the Lord is not just,” when it is their own way that is not just.

¹⁸When the righteous turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity, they shall die for it.

¹⁹And when the wicked turn from their wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it.

²⁰Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not just.” O house of Israel, I will judge all of you according to your ways!

²¹In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.”

²²Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; but he had opened my mouth by the time the fugitive came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.

²³The word of the LORD came to me:

²⁴Mortal, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, “Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.”

²⁵Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood; shall you then possess the land?

²⁶You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land?

²⁷Say this to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and those who are in the open field I will give to the wild animals to be devoured; and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.

²⁸I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and its proud might shall come to an end; and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through.

²⁹Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

³⁰As for you, mortal, your people who talk together about you by the walls, and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to a neighbor, “Come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.”

³¹They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain.

³²To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

³³When this comes — and come it will! — then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

¹Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek.

²He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;

⁸so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

¹¹We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.

¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”

¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews

²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”

²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

³⁵When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

³⁶And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens;

³⁹so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.