Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

²this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

³Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is bornagain he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

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

⁶That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be bornagain.’

⁸The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

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

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

¹⁵so that everyone whobelieves will have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

¹⁸The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.

²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.

²¹But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealedas having been performed in God.”

²²After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea; and there He was spending time with them and baptizing.

²³Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and being baptized—

²⁴for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification.

²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing and all the people are coming to Him.”

²⁷John replied, “A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’

²⁹He who has the bride is the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹“He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

³²What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony.

³³The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true.

³⁴For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.

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

¹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to take possession of it, and He drives away many nations from before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,

²and when the LORD your God turns them over to you and you defeat them, you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant with them nor be gracious to them.

³Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.

⁴For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

⁵But this is what you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, smash their memorial stones, cut their Asherim to pieces, and burn their carved images in the fire.

⁶For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

⁷“The LORD did not make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples,

⁸but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who love Him and keep His commandments;

¹⁰but He repays those who hate Him to their faces, to eliminate them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

¹¹Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

¹²“Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep His covenant with you and His faithfulness which He swore to your forefathers.

¹³And He will love you, bless you, and make you numerous; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the newborn of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.

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

¹⁵And the LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not inflict upon you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will give them to all who hate you.

¹⁶You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will turn over to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷“If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’

¹⁸you are not to be afraid of them; you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

¹⁹the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders, and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

²⁰Indeed, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.

²¹You are not to be terrified of them, because the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

²²And the LORD your God will drive away these nations from you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.

²³But the LORD your God will turn them over to you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

²⁴And He will hand over their kings to you, so that you will eliminate their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

²⁵The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

²⁶And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become designated for destruction, like it; you are to utterly detest it, and you are to utterly loathe it, for it is something designated for destruction.

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

²For if 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 AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

⁴Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

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

⁷“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.

⁸BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”

⁹Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

¹⁰How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;

¹¹and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,

¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴For if those who are of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified;

¹⁵for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

¹⁶For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

¹⁷(as it is written: “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist.

¹⁸In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”

¹⁹Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

²⁰yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,

²¹and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

²²Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

²³Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,

²⁴but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

²⁵He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification.

¹In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the behavior of their wives,

²as they observe your pure and respectful behavior.

³Your adornment must not be merely the external—braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or putting on apparel;

⁴but it should be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

⁵For in this way the holy women of former times, who hoped in God, also used to adorn themselves, being subject to their own husbands,

⁶just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; and you have proved to be her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

⁷You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

⁸To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble;

⁹not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you would inherit a blessing.

¹⁰For, “THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.

¹¹HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

¹²FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST EVILDOERS.”

¹³And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE IN DREAD,

¹⁵but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect;

¹⁶and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

¹⁷For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

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

²⁰who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

²¹Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²²who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

¹Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

³I will bring my knowledge from afar, And ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵Behold, God is mighty but does not reject anyone; He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, But gives justice to the afflicted.

⁷He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, But with kings on the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in shackles, And are caught in the snares of misery,

⁹Then He declares to them their work And their wrongdoings, that they have been arrogant.

¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction, And commands that they return from injustice.

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 perish by the sword, And die without knowledge.

¹³But the godless in heart nurture anger; They do not call for help when He binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵He rescues the afflicted in their misery, And opens their ears in time of oppression.

¹⁶Then indeed, He induced you away from the mouth of distress, And instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; And your table was full of rich food.

¹⁷“But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸Beware that wrath does not entice you to mockery; And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹Will your cry for help keep you from distress, Or all the exertions of your strength?

²⁰Do not long for the night, When people vanish in their places.

²¹Be careful, do not turn to evil, For you preferred this to misery.

²²Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him?

²³Who has appointed Him His way, And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember that you are to exalt His work, Of which people have sung.

²⁵All people have seen it; Mankind looks at it from afar.

²⁶Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable.

²⁷For He draws up the drops of water; They distill rain from its celestial stream,

²⁸Which clouds pour down; They drip upon mankind abundantly.

²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion?

³⁰Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea.

³¹For by them He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.

³²He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the target.

³³Its thundering voice declares His presence; The livestock also, concerning what is coming up.

¹Why do You stand far away, LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?

²In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the needy; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked boasts of his soul’s desire, And the greedy person curses and shows disrespect to the LORD.

⁴The wicked, in his haughtiness, does not seek Him. There is no God in all his schemes.

⁵His ways succeed at all times; Yet Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his enemies, he snorts at them.

⁶He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout the generations I will not be in adversity.”

⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression; Under his tongue is harm and injustice.

⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages; He kills the innocent in the secret places; His eyes surreptitiously watch for the unfortunate.

⁹He lurks in secret like a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the needy; He catches the needy when he pulls him into his net.

¹⁰Then he crushes the needy one, who cowers; And unfortunate people fall by his mighty power.

¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”

¹²Arise, LORD; God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the humble.

¹³Why has the wicked treated God disrespectfully? He has said to himself, “You will not require an account.”

¹⁴You have seen it, for You have looked at harm and provocation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶The LORD is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land.

¹⁷LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will make Your ear attentive

¹⁸To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that mankind, which is of the earth, will no longer cause terror.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,

²So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol.

⁶She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,

⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength, And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹And you will groan in the end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹²And you say, “How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

¹⁴I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?

²¹For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD, And He observes all his paths.

²²His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked, And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

²³He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.

¹So all Israel was enrolled in genealogies; and behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile to Babylon for their infidelity.

²Now the first inhabitants who lived on their own property in their cities were people of Israel, including the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants.

³Some of the sons of Judah, some of the sons of Benjamin, and some of the sons of Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem:

⁴Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, from the sons of Perez the son of Judah.

⁵From the Shilonites were Asaiah the firstborn and his sons.

⁶From the sons of Zerah were Jeuel and their relatives, 690 of them.

⁷From the sons of Benjamin were Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah,

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

⁹and their relatives according to their generations, 956. All these men were heads of fathers’ households according to their fathers’ houses.

¹⁰From the priests were Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin,

¹¹and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief officer of the house of God;

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

¹³and their relatives, heads of their fathers’ households, 1,760 competent men for the work of the service of the house of God.

¹⁴Of the Levites, there were Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;

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

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

¹⁷Now the gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives (Shallum the chief

¹⁸being stationed until now at the king’s gate to the east). These were the gatekeepers for the camp of the sons of Levi.

¹⁹Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his relatives of his father’s house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, doorkeepers of the tent; and their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the LORD, keepers of the entrance.

²⁰Phinehas the son of Eleazar was supervisor over them previously, and the LORD was with him.

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

²²Those who were chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds were 212 in all. They were registered by genealogy in their settlements, those whom David and Samuel the seer appointed in their official capacity.

²³So they and their sons were in charge of the gates of the house of the LORD, the house of the tent, in their divisions of service.

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

²⁵Their relatives in their settlements were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them;

²⁶for the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, served in an official capacity, and were in charge of the chambers and in charge of the treasuries in the house of God.

²⁷They spent the night around the house of God, because the watch was committed to them; and they were in charge of opening it morning by morning.

²⁸Now some of them were in charge of the utensils of the service, for they counted them when they brought them in and when they took them out.

²⁹Some of them also were appointed over the furniture and over all the utensils of the sanctuary, and over the finely milled flour, the wine, the olive oil, the frankincense, and the balsam oil.

³⁰Some of the sons of the priests prepared the mixing of the balsam oil.

³¹Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the responsibility for the baking of cakes in pans.

³²Some of their relatives of the sons of the Kohathites were in charge of the showbread to prepare it every Sabbath.

³³Now these are the singers, heads of fathers’ households of the Levites, who lived in the chambers of the temple free of other duties; for they were engaged in their work day and night.

³⁴These were heads of fathers’ households of the Levites according to their generations, chief men who lived in Jerusalem.

³⁵Jeiel the father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon, and his wife’s name was Maacah,

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

³⁷Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.

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

³⁹Ner fathered Kish, Kish fathered Saul, and Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

⁴⁰The son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal fathered Micah.

⁴¹The sons of Micah were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz.

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

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

⁴⁴Azel had six sons whose names were these: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.

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

²He had me pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry.

³Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord GOD, You Yourself know.”

⁴Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘You dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’

⁵This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life.

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

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a loud noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

⁸And I looked, and behold, tendons were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord GOD says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, so that they come to life.” ’ ”

¹⁰So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the entire house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’

¹²Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am going to open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.

¹⁴And I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’ ”

¹⁵The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,

¹⁶“Now you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’

¹⁷Then put them together for yourself one to another into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸And when the sons of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’

¹⁹say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’

²⁰The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

²¹And say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am going to take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

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

²³They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their offenses; but I will rescue them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴“And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes and follow them.

²⁵And they will live on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and My servant David will be their leader forever.

²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and set My sanctuary in their midst forever.

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

²⁸And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” ’ ”

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had encouraged them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

³And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵Now these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and reached them at Troas within five days; and we stayed there for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered together.

⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.”

¹¹When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

¹³But we went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to lose time in Asia; for he was hurrying, if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church.

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

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

²⁶Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all people.

²⁷For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 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;

³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

³²And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me.

³⁵In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  ”

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.