Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John

²(though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),

³he left Judea and went again to Galilee.

⁴He had to travel through Samaria;

⁵so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.

⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.

⁷A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her,

⁸because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

⁹“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”

¹¹“Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’?

¹²You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

¹³Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.

¹⁴But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

¹⁵“Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”

¹⁶“Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.”

¹⁷“I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said.

¹⁸“For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.

²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

²³But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.

²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

²⁷Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people,

²⁹“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

³⁰They left the town and made their way to him.

³¹In the meantime the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³²But he said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

³³The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”

³⁴“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.

³⁵“Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.

³⁶The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.

³⁷For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’

³⁸I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

³⁹Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

⁴¹Many more believed because of what he said.

⁴²And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

⁴³After two days he left there for Galilee.

⁴⁴(Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. )

⁴⁵When they entered Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen everything he did in Jerusalem during the festival. For they also had gone to the festival.

⁴⁶He went again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum.

⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, since he was about to die.

⁴⁸Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

⁴⁹“Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my boy dies.”

⁵⁰“Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and departed.

⁵¹While he was still going down, his servants met him saying that his boy was alive.

⁵²He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him,” they answered.

⁵³The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household.

⁵⁴Now this was also the second sign Jesus performed after he came from Judea to Galilee.

¹“Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the LORD swore to your fathers.

²Remember that the LORD your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

³He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

⁴Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.

⁵Keep in mind that the LORD your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

⁶So keep the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.

⁷For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

⁸a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

⁹a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

¹⁰When you eat and are full, you will bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹“Be careful that you don’t forget the LORD your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today.

¹²When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

¹³and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

¹⁴be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

¹⁵He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you.

¹⁶He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper.

¹⁷You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’

¹⁸but remember that the LORD your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your fathers, as it is today.

¹⁹If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will perish.

²⁰Like the nations the LORD is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.

¹Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

²We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

³And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,

⁴endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

⁵This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.

⁸But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.

¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

¹¹And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

¹³In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.

¹⁶And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

¹⁷Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.

¹⁹For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

²⁰The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more

²¹so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding  — because the one who suffers in the flesh is finished with sin  —

²in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

³For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

⁴They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living — and they slander you.

⁵They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

⁶For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.

⁷The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer.

⁸Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

⁹Be hospitable to one another without complaining.

¹⁰Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

¹¹If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you.

¹³Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.

¹⁴If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

¹⁵Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler.

¹⁶But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name.

¹⁷For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

¹⁸And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

¹⁹So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

¹My heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest.

²Just listen to his thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; his lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when his rumbling voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,” and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,

⁷serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work.

⁸The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens.

⁹The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.

¹⁰Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen.

¹¹He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.

¹²They swirl about, turning round and round at his direction, accomplishing everything he commands them over the surface of the inhabited world.

¹³He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God’s wonders.

¹⁵Do you know how God directs his clouds or makes their lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?

¹⁷You whose clothes get hot when the south wind brings calm to the land,

¹⁸can you help God spread out the skies as hard as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak? Can a man speak when he is confused?

²¹Now no one can even look at the sun when it is in the skies, after a wind has swept through and cleared the clouds away.

²²Yet out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow; awesome majesty surrounds him.

²³The Almighty — we cannot reach him — he is exalted in power! He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,

²⁴therefore, men fear him. He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.

¹For the choir director. Of David. [1] I have taken refuge in the LORD. How can you say to me, “Escape to the mountains like a bird!

²For look, the wicked string bows; they put their arrows on bowstrings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

³When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

⁴The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD—his throne is in heaven. His eyes watch; his gaze examines everyone.

⁵The LORD examines the righteous, but he hates the wicked and those who love violence.

⁶Let him rain burning coals and sulfur on the wicked; let a scorching wind be the portion in their cup.

⁷For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds. The upright will see his face.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹The Philistines fought against Israel, and Israel’s men fled from them. Many were killed on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons and killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

³When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers spotted him and severely wounded him.

⁴Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and torture me.” But his armor-bearer would not do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died.

⁶So Saul and his three sons died — his whole house died together.

⁷When all the men of Israel in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. So the Philistines came and settled in them.

⁸The next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa.

⁹They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news to their idols and the people.

¹⁰Then they put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung his skull in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹When all Jabesh-gilead heard of everything the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all their brave men set out and retrieved the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

¹³Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD because he did not keep the LORD’s word. He even consulted a medium for guidance,

¹⁴but he did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, face Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him

³and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

⁴I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, including horses and riders, who are all splendidly dressed, a huge assembly armed with large and small shields, all of them brandishing swords.

⁵Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shields and helmets;

⁶Gomer with all its troops; and Beth-togarmah from the remotest parts of the north along with all its troops — many peoples are with you.

⁷“‘Be prepared and get yourself ready, you and your whole assembly that has been mobilized around you; you will be their guard.

⁸After a long time you will be summoned. In the last years you will enter a land that has been restored from war and regathered from many peoples to the mountains of Israel, which had long been a ruin. They were brought out from the peoples, and all of them now live securely.

⁹You, all of your troops, and many peoples with you will advance, coming like a thunderstorm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰“‘This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

¹¹You will say, “I will advance against a land of open villages; I will come against a tranquil people who are living securely, all of them living without walls and without bars or gates”  —

¹²in order to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against ruins now inhabited and against a people gathered from the nations, who have been acquiring cattle and possessions and who live at the center of the world.

¹³Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its rulers will ask you, “Have you come to seize spoil? Have you mobilized your assembly to carry off plunder, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and possessions, to seize plenty of spoil?”’

¹⁴“Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know this

¹⁵and come from your place in the remotest parts of the north  — you and many peoples with you, who are all riding horses — a huge assembly, a powerful army?

¹⁶You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. It will happen in the last days, Gog, that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me, when I show myself holy through you in their sight.

¹⁷“‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one I spoke about in former times through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who for years prophesied in those times that I would bring you against them?

¹⁸Now on that day, the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD  — my wrath will flare up.

¹⁹I swear in my zeal and fiery rage: On that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

²⁰The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, every creature that crawls on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble before me. The mountains will be demolished, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

²¹I will call for a sword against him on all my mountains — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD  — and every man’s sword will be against his brother.

²²I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur on him, as well as his troops and the many peoples who are with him.

²³I will display my greatness and holiness, and will reveal myself in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’

¹After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail.

³After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray,

⁶we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.

⁹This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

²¹But they have been informed about you — that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

²²So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.

²³Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.

²⁵With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.

³²Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?

³⁸Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic: