Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

²This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

⁶Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

⁸The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

¹¹“Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.

¹⁴“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

¹⁹This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

²¹But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.

²³John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized,

²⁴since John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification.

²⁶So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing — and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷John responded, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’

²⁹He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, and yet no one accepts his testimony.

³³The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that God is true.

³⁴For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands.

³⁶The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

¹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and he drives out many nations before you — the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you  —

²and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

³You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.

⁵Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.

⁶For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷“The LORD had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

⁸But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Know that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.

¹⁰But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.

¹¹So keep the command — the statutes and ordinances — that I am giving you to follow today.

¹²“If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the LORD your God will keep his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your fathers.

¹³He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring, and the produce of your land — your grain, new wine, and fresh oil — the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your fathers that he would give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

¹⁵The LORD will remove all sickness from you; he will not put on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷“If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’

¹⁸do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

¹⁹the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.

²⁰The LORD your God will also send hornets against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.

²¹Don’t be terrified of them, for the LORD your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

²²The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

²³The LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

²⁵Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.

²⁶Do not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

²If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God.

³For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

⁴Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

⁶Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

⁹Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰In what way then was it credited — while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

¹²And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified,

¹⁵because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

¹⁶This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants  — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God’s sight, in whom Abraham believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

¹⁸He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.

¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

²¹because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

²²Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.

²³Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,

²⁴but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

¹In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live

²when they observe your pure, reverent lives.

³Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry,

⁴but rather what is inside the heart  — the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

⁵For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,

⁶just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.

⁷Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

⁸Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble,

⁹not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹⁰For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit,

¹¹and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it,

¹²because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.

¹³Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated,

¹⁵but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

¹⁶Yet do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.

¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

¹⁹in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison

²⁰who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few — that is, eight people  — were saved through water.

²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

¹Then Elihu continued, saying:

²Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from a distant place and ascribe justice to my Maker.

⁴Indeed, my words are not false; one who has complete knowledge is with you.

⁵Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one; he understands all things.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but he gives justice to the oppressed.

⁷He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous, but he seats them forever with enthroned kings, and they are exalted.

⁸If people are bound with chains and trapped by the cords of affliction,

⁹God tells them what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

¹⁰He opens their ears to correction and tells them to repent from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.

¹²But if they do not listen, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge.

¹³Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

¹⁴They die in their youth; their life ends among male cult prostitutes.

¹⁵God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; he instructs them by their torment.

¹⁶Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food.

¹⁷Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.

¹⁸Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray.

¹⁹Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress?

²⁰Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places.

²¹Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction.

²²Look, God shows himself exalted by his power. Who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has appointed his way for him, and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?

²⁴Remember that you should praise his work, which people have sung about.

²⁵All mankind has seen it; people have looked at it from a distance.

²⁶Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted.

²⁷For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist,

²⁸which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

²⁹Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?

³⁰See how he spreads his lightning around him and covers the depths of the sea.

³¹For he judges the nations with these; he gives food in abundance.

³²He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark.

³³The thunder declares his presence; the cattle also, the approaching storm.

¹LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide in times of trouble?

²In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims; let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

³For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings; the one who is greedy curses and despises the LORD.

⁴In all his scheming, the wicked person arrogantly thinks, “There’s no accountability, since there’s no God.”

⁵His ways are always secure; your lofty judgments have no effect on him; he scoffs at all his adversaries.

⁶He says to himself, “I will never be moved — from generation to generation without calamity.”

⁷Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

⁸He waits in ambush near settlements; he kills the innocent in secret places. His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless;

⁹he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket. He lurks in order to seize a victim; he seizes a victim and drags him in his net.

¹⁰So he is oppressed and beaten down; helpless people fall because of the wicked one’s strength.

¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; he hides his face and will never see.”

¹²Rise up, LORD God! Lift up your hand. Do not forget the oppressed.

¹³Why has the wicked person despised God? He says to himself, “You will not demand an account.”

¹⁴But you yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into your hands. The helpless one entrusts himself to you; you are a helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked, evil person, until you look for his wickedness, but it can’t be found.

¹⁶The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.

¹⁷LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble; you will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully,

¹⁸doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed so that mere humans from the earth may terrify them no more.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding

²so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

³Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

⁴in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

⁶She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

⁷So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

⁹Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

¹⁰strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

¹¹At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.

¹³I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors.

¹⁴I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares?

¹⁷They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving deer, a graceful doe  — let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.

²⁰Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman?

²¹For a man’s ways are before the LORD’s eyes, and he considers all his paths.

²²A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.

²³He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.

¹All Israel was registered in the genealogies that are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

²The first to live in their towns on their own property again were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants.

³These people from the descendants of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh settled in Jerusalem:

⁴Uthai son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, a descendant of Perez son of Judah;

⁵from the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn and his sons;

⁶and from the descendants of Zerah: Jeuel and their relatives — 690 in all.

⁷The Benjaminites: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah;

⁸Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi, son of Michri; Meshullam son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah;

⁹and their relatives according to their family records — 956 in all. All these men were heads of their ancestral families.

¹⁰The priests: Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jachin;

¹¹Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;

¹²Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer;

¹³and their relatives, the heads of their ancestral families — 1,760 in all. They were capable men employed in the ministry of God’s temple.

¹⁴The Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah of the Merarites;

¹⁵Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah, son of Mica, son of Zichri, son of Asaph;

¹⁶Obadiah son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah son of Asa, son of Elkanah who lived in the settlements of the Netophathites.

¹⁷The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their chief;

¹⁸he was previously stationed at the King’s Gate on the east side. These were the gatekeepers from the camp of the Levites.

¹⁹Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah and his relatives from his father’s family, the Korahites, were assigned to guard the thresholds of the tent. Their ancestors had been assigned to the LORD’s camp as guardians of the entrance.

²⁰In earlier times Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader, and the LORD was with him.

²¹Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

²²The total number of those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds was 212. They were registered by genealogy in their settlements. David and the seer Samuel had appointed them to their trusted positions.

²³So they and their sons were assigned as guards to the gates of the LORD’s temple, which had been the tent-temple.

²⁴The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north, and south.

²⁵Their relatives came from their settlements at fixed times to be with them seven days,

²⁶but the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of God’s temple.

²⁷They spent the night in the vicinity of God’s temple, because they had guard duty and were in charge of opening it every morning.

²⁸Some of them were in charge of the utensils used in worship. They would count them when they brought them in and when they took them out.

²⁹Others were put in charge of the furnishings and all the utensils of the sanctuary, as well as the fine flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices.

³⁰Some of the priests’ sons mixed the spices.

³¹A Levite called Mattithiah, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the bread.

³²Some of the Kohathites’ relatives were responsible for preparing the rows of the Bread of the Presence every Sabbath.

³³The singers, the heads of the Levite families, stayed in the temple chambers and were exempt from other tasks because they were on duty day and night.

³⁴These were the heads of the Levite families, chiefs according to their family records; they lived in Jerusalem.

³⁵Jeiel fathered Gibeon and lived in Gibeon. His wife’s name was Maacah.

³⁶Abdon was his firstborn son, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,

³⁷Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.

³⁸Mikloth fathered Shimeam. These also lived opposite their relatives in Jerusalem with their other relatives.

³⁹Ner fathered Kish, Kish fathered Saul, and Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

⁴⁰Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal fathered Micah.

⁴¹Micah’s sons: Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz.

⁴²Ahaz fathered Jarah; Jarah fathered Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri; Zimri fathered Moza.

⁴³Moza fathered Binea. His son was Rephaiah, his son Elasah, and his son Azel.

⁴⁴Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were Azel’s sons.

¹The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

²He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry.

³Then he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord GOD, only you know.”

⁴He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

⁵This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live.

⁶I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

⁸As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord GOD says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!”

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

¹¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

¹²Therefore, prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, my people, and lead you into the land of Israel.

¹³You will know that I am the LORD, my people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.

¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the LORD.’”

¹⁵The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁶“Son of man, take a single stick and write on it: Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him. Then take another stick and write on it: Belonging to Joseph — the stick of Ephraim — and all the house of Israel associated with him.

¹⁷Then join them together into a single stick so that they become one in your hand.

¹⁸When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these things?’—

¹⁹tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick so that they become one in my hand.’

²⁰“When the sticks you have written on are in your hand and in full view of the people,

²¹tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. They will no longer be two nations and will no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

²³They will not defile themselves anymore with their idols, their abhorrent things, and all their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow my ordinances, and keep my statutes and obey them.

²⁵“‘They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live in it forever with their children and grandchildren, and my servant David will be their prince forever.

²⁶I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a permanent covenant with them. I will establish and multiply them and will set my sanctuary among them forever.

²⁷My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

²⁸When my sanctuary is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel.’”

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.

²And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

⁹and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”

¹¹After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

¹²They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

²³except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,

²⁷because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³²“And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.

³⁵In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

³⁷There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.