Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then their whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

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

⁴Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for charging this man.”

⁵But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he started even to here.”

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

⁷Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle performed by him.

⁹So he kept asking him questions, but Jesus did not answer him.

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

¹¹Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That very day Herod and Pilate became friends. Previously, they had been enemies.

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

¹⁴and said to them, “You have brought me this man as one who misleads the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of.

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

¹⁶Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then they all cried out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas to us!”

¹⁹(He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,

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

²²A third time he said to them, “Why? What has this man done wrong? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

²³But they kept up the pressure, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified, and their voices won out.

²⁴So Pilate decided to grant their demand

²⁵and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him.

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

²⁹Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, 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 these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two others — criminals  — were also led away to be executed with him.

³³When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

³⁵The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine

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

³⁸An inscription was above him: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁹Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?

⁴¹We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

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

⁴³And he said to him, “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,

⁴⁵because the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.

⁴⁶And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous!”

⁴⁸All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests.

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

⁵⁰There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin,

⁵¹who had not agreed with their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

⁵²He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body.

⁵³Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

⁵⁴It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed.

⁵⁶Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

¹“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came out against us with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.

²But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

³So the LORD our God also handed over King Og of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left.

⁴We captured all his cities at that time. There wasn’t a city that we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.

⁶We completely destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

⁷But we took all the livestock and the spoil from the cities as plunder for ourselves.

⁸“At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,

⁹which the Sidonians call Sirion, but the Amorites call Senir,

¹⁰all the cities of the plateau, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

¹¹(Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is 13½ feet long and 6 feet wide by a standard measure. )

¹²“At that time we took possession of this land. I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Aroer by the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead along with its cities.

¹³I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og. The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.

¹⁴Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his own name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.

¹⁵I gave Gilead to Machir,

¹⁶and I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.

¹⁷The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸“I commanded you at that time: The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your valiant men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.

¹⁹But your wives, dependents, and livestock — I know that you have a lot of livestock — will remain in the cities I have given you

²⁰until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.

²¹“I commanded Joshua at that time: Your own eyes have seen everything the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter.

²²Don’t be afraid of them, for the LORD your God fights for you.

²³“At that time I begged the LORD:

²⁴Lord GOD, you have begun to show your greatness and your strong hand to your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours?

²⁵Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.

²⁶“But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. The LORD said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to me again about this matter.

²⁷Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross the Jordan.

²⁸But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’

²⁹So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.

¹Let brotherly love continue.

²Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

³Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.

⁴Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

⁵Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.

⁶Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

⁷Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.

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

⁹Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by food regulations, since those who observe them have not benefited.

¹⁰We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat.

¹¹For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp.

¹²Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood.

¹³Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing his disgrace.

¹⁴For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come.

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

¹⁶Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

¹⁸Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.

¹⁹And I urge you all the more to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus — the great Shepherd of the sheep  — through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

²¹equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²Brothers and sisters, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

²³Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you.

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

²⁵Grace be with you all.

¹What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you?

²You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask.

³You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

⁴You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.

⁵Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?

⁶But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

⁷Therefore, submit 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, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

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

¹¹Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. 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. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

¹⁴Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

¹⁵Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.

¹So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

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

³He was also angry at Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute him and yet had condemned him.

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

⁵But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

⁶So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied: I am young in years, while you are old; therefore I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.

⁷I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach wisdom.

⁸But it is the spirit in a person— the breath from the Almighty— that gives anyone understanding.

⁹It is not only the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.

¹⁰Therefore I say, “Listen to me. I too will declare what I know.”

¹¹Look, I waited for your conclusions; I listened to your insights as you sought for words.

¹²I paid close attention to you. Yet no one proved Job wrong; not one of you refuted his arguments.

¹³So do not claim, “We have found wisdom; let God deal with him, not man.”

¹⁴But Job has not directed his argument to me, and I will not respond to him with your arguments.

¹⁵Job’s friends are dismayed and can no longer answer; words have left them.

¹⁶Should I continue to wait now that they are silent, now that they stand there and no longer answer?

¹⁷I too will answer; yes, I will tell what I know.

¹⁸For I am full of words, and my spirit compels me to speak.

¹⁹My heart is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like new wineskins.

²⁰I must speak so that I can find relief; I must open my lips and respond.

²¹I will be partial to no one, and I will not give anyone an undeserved title.

²²For I do not know how to give such titles; otherwise, my Maker would remove me in an instant.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments, according to . A psalm of David. [1] LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath.

²Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am weak; heal me, LORD, for my bones are shaking;

³my whole being is shaken with terror. And you, LORD  — how long?

⁴Turn, LORD! Rescue me; save me because of your faithful love.

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

⁶I am weary from my groaning; with my tears I dampen my bed and drench my couch every night.

⁷My eyes are swollen from grief; they grow old because of all my enemies.

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

⁹The LORD has heard my plea for help; the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹⁰All my enemies will be ashamed and shake with terror; they will turn back and suddenly be disgraced.

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

²For learning wisdom and discipline; for understanding insightful sayings;

³for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity;

⁴for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced, knowledge and discretion to a young man —

⁵let a wise person listen and increase learning, and let a discerning person obtain guidance —

⁶for understanding a proverb or a parable, the words of the wise, and their riddles.

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

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,

⁹for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded.

¹¹If they say — “Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun!

¹²Let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³We’ll find all kinds of valuable property and fill our houses with plunder.

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us, and we’ll all share the loot”  —

¹⁵my son, don’t travel that road with them or set foot on their path,

¹⁶because their feet run toward evil and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷It is useless to spread a net where any bird can see it,

¹⁸but they set an ambush to kill themselves; they attack their own lives.

¹⁹Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly; it takes the lives of those who receive it.

²⁰Wisdom calls out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares.

²¹She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates:

²²“How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?

²³If you respond to my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words.

²⁴Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention,

²⁵since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction,

²⁶I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you,

²⁷when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you.

²⁸Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the LORD,

³⁰were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction,

³¹they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes.

³²For the apostasy of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger.”

¹These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. He was the firstborn, but his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. He is not listed in the genealogy according to birthright.

²Although Judah became strong among his brothers and a ruler came from him, the birthright was given to Joseph.

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

⁴Joel’s sons: his son Shemaiah, his son Gog, his son Shimei,

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

⁶and his son Beerah. Beerah was a leader of the Reubenites, and King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria took him into exile.

⁷His relatives by their families as they are recorded in their family records: Jeiel the chief, Zechariah,

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

⁹They also settled in the east as far as the edge of the desert that extends to the Euphrates River, because their herds had increased in the land of Gilead.

¹⁰During Saul’s reign they waged war against the Hagrites, who were defeated by their power. And they lived in their tents throughout the region east of Gilead.

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

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

¹³Their relatives according to their ancestral houses: 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 head of their ancestral family.

¹⁶They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its surrounding villages, and throughout the pasturelands of Sharon.

¹⁷All of them were registered in the genealogies during the reigns of Judah’s King Jotham and Israel’s King Jeroboam.

¹⁸The descendants of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 warriors who could serve in the army — men who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war.

¹⁹They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.

²⁰They received help against these enemies because they cried out to God in battle, and the Hagrites and all their allies were handed over to them. He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in him.

²¹They captured the Hagrites’ livestock — fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand donkeys — as well as one hundred thousand people.

²²Many of the Hagrites were killed because it was God’s battle. And they lived there in the Hagrites’ place until the exile.

²³The descendants of half the tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon (that is, Senir or Mount Hermon); they were numerous.

²⁴These were the heads of their ancestral families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were valiant warriors, famous men, and heads of their ancestral houses.

²⁵But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors. They prostituted themselves with the gods of the nations God had destroyed before them.

²⁶So the God of Israel roused the spirit of King Pul (that is, Tiglath-pileser ) of Assyria, and he took the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and Gozan’s river, where they are until today.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them, ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman.

³And suppose he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his trumpet to warn the people.

⁴Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his death will be his own fault.

⁵Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his death is his own fault. If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.

⁶However, suppose the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives. Then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

⁷“As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me.

⁸If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

⁹But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.

¹⁰“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘You have said this: “Our transgressions and our sins are heavy on us, and we are wasting away because of them! How then can we survive?”’

¹¹Tell them, ‘As I live — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD  — I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’

¹²“Now, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous person will not save him on the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked person cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. The righteous person won’t be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.

¹³When I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and acts unjustly, then none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the injustice he has committed.

¹⁴“‘So when I tell the wicked person, “You will surely die,” but he repents of his sin and does what is just and right —

¹⁵he returns collateral, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing injustice — he will certainly live; he will not die.

¹⁶None of the sins he committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.

¹⁷“‘But your people say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair,” even though it is their own way that isn’t fair.

¹⁸When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, he will die for it.

¹⁹But if a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of it.

²⁰Yet you say, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair.” I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.’”

²¹In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”

²²Now the hand of the LORD had been on me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and he opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.

²³Then the word of the LORD came to me:

²⁴“Son of man, those who live in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person, yet he received possession of the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’

²⁵Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: You eat meat with blood in it, look to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then receive possession of the land?

²⁶You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then receive possession of the land? ’

²⁷“Tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: As surely as I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I have given to wild animals to be devoured, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.

²⁸I will make the land a desolate waste, and its proud strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, with no one passing through.

²⁹They will know that I am the LORD when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed.’

³⁰“As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One person speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear what the message is that comes from the LORD!’

³¹So my people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit.

³²Yes, to them you are like a singer of passionate songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them.

³³Yet when all this comes true  — and it definitely will — then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

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

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

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

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

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

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

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured 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 such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

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

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.