Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John

²(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),

³He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

⁴But He needed to go through Samaria.

⁵So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

⁶Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

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

⁸For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

¹²Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

¹⁵The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

¹⁹The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

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

²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.

²²You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

²³But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

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

²⁵The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

²⁶Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

²⁷And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,

²⁹“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

³⁰Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³²But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

³⁶And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

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

³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

³⁹And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.

⁴¹And many more believed because of His own word.

⁴²Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

⁴³Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.

⁴⁴For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

⁴⁵So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

⁴⁶So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

⁴⁹The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

⁵¹And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

⁵²Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

⁵³So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

⁵⁴This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

¹“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.

²And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

³So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

⁴Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

⁵You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.

⁶“Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

⁷For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills;

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

⁹a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

¹⁰When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,

¹²lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;

¹³and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

¹⁴when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

¹⁵who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock;

¹⁶who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—

¹⁷then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’

¹⁸“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

¹⁹Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

²⁰As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.

¹Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

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

³And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

⁴and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

⁵Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

¹⁰For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall 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 the reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

¹³(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

¹⁶And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

¹⁷For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

¹⁸Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

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

²⁰Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

²¹so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

²that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

³For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

⁴In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

⁵They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

⁶For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

⁷But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

⁸And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

⁹Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

¹⁰As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

¹¹If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;

¹³but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

¹⁴If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.

¹⁶Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

¹⁷For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

¹⁸Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

¹⁹Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

¹“At this also my heart trembles, And leaps from its place.

²Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

³He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain them when His voice is heard.

⁵God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

⁶For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.

⁷He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work.

⁸The beasts go into dens, And remain in their lairs.

⁹From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, And cold from the scattering winds of the north.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given, And the broad waters are frozen.

¹¹Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds.

¹²And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth.

¹³He causes it to come, Whether for correction, Or for His land, Or for mercy.

¹⁴“Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.

¹⁵Do you know when God dispatches them, And causes the light of His cloud to shine?

¹⁶Do you know how the clouds are balanced, Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷Why are your garments hot, When He quiets the earth by the south wind?

¹⁸With Him, have you spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹“Teach us what we should say to Him, For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness.

²⁰Should He be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up.

²¹Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, When the wind has passed and cleared them.

²²He comes from the north as golden splendor; With God is awesome majesty.

²³As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress.

²⁴Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. [1] In the LORD I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?

²For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.

³If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?

⁴The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

⁵The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.

⁶Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.

¹My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

²You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.

³So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

⁷Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,

⁸Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—

¹¹So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers;

¹⁴Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

¹⁶These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,

¹⁹A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.

²¹Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck.

²²When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.

²⁶For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

²⁷Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

³⁰People do not despise a thief If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.

³¹Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.

³²Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.

³³Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy is a husband’s fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

³The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was wounded by the archers.

⁴Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.

⁵And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died.

⁶So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together.

⁷And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; then the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

⁸So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹And they stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among the people.

¹⁰Then they put his armor in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹And when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all the valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons; and they brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

¹³So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.

¹⁴But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

¹Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

³and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

⁴I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

⁵Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

⁶Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.

⁷“Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.

⁸After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

⁹You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:

¹¹You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—

¹²to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

¹³Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’

¹⁴“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?

¹⁵Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.

¹⁶You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

¹⁷Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

¹⁸“And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face.

¹⁹For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,

²⁰so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’

²¹I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.

²²And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

²³Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.” ’

¹Now it came to pass, that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

⁴And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

⁵When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.

⁶When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day.

⁸On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

¹⁵And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.

¹⁷And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

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

¹⁹When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;

²¹but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

²²What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.

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

²⁴Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.

²⁵But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

²⁷Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

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

³⁰And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

³⁶For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!”

³⁷Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek?

³⁸Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,