Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

³Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

⁴

⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

¹⁰and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹²So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

¹⁵The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.

¹⁷In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”

¹⁸For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

²⁴“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

²⁵Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

²⁶For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

²⁷And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice

²⁹and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

³⁰By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

³¹“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

³²There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

³³“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.

³⁴Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.

³⁵John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

³⁶“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.

³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

³⁸nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

³⁹You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹“I do not accept glory from human beings,

⁴²but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.

⁴⁴How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.

⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

¹Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky.

²The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”

³But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

⁴After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.

⁵It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

⁶Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸At Horeb you aroused the LORD’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you.

⁹When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.

¹⁰The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

¹¹At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³And the LORD said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!

¹⁴Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

¹⁶When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and so arousing his anger.

¹⁹I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.

²⁰And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.

²¹Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

²²You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.

²³And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him.

²⁴You have been rebellious against the LORD ever since I have known you.

²⁵I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

²⁶I prayed to the LORD and said, “Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin.

²⁸Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’

²⁹But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

²By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

¹⁴For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.

¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.

²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed:

²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;

³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

⁵In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

⁸Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

¹²With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.

¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

²“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

³Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

⁵Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹²“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

¹³that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

¹⁵The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

²⁰Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

²¹Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

²⁶to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,

²⁷to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

³⁰when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

³⁴“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

³⁵Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

³⁸when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?

⁴¹Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

¹For the director of music. According to sheminith. A psalm of David. Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

²Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.

³May the LORD silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue—

⁴those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

⁵“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”

⁶And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.

⁷You, LORD, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked,

⁸who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.

¹My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.

²Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and to insight, “You are my relative.”

⁵They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

⁶At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense.

⁸He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house

⁹at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.

¹¹(She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home;

¹²now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)

¹³She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴“Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!

¹⁶I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!

¹⁹My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.

²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose

²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.

²⁶Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

¹All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.

²In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’ ”

³When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel, as the LORD had promised through Samuel.

⁴David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). The Jebusites who lived there

⁵said to David, “You will not get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.

⁶David had said, “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander in chief.” Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and so he received the command.

⁷David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David.

⁸He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city.

⁹And David became more and more powerful, because the LORD Almighty was with him.

¹⁰These were the chiefs of David’s mighty warriors—they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the LORD had promised—

¹¹this is the list of David’s mighty warriors: Jashobeam, a Hakmonite, was chief of the officers; he raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.

¹²Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three mighty warriors.

¹³He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines.

¹⁴But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.

¹⁵Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.

¹⁷David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”

¹⁸So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD.

¹⁹“God forbid that I should do this!” he said. “Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.

²⁰Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three.

²¹He was doubly honored above the Three and became their commander, even though he was not included among them.

²²Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

²³And he struck down an Egyptian who was five cubits tall. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

²⁴Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors.

²⁵He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

²⁶The mighty warriors were: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

²⁷Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

²⁸Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa, Abiezer from Anathoth,

²⁹Sibbekai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite,

³¹Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

³²Hurai from the ravines of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite,

³⁵Ahiam son of Sakar the Hararite, Eliphal son of Ur,

³⁶Hepher the Mekerathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai,

³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri,

³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai,

⁴²Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, who was chief of the Reubenites, and the thirty with him,

⁴³Hanan son of Maakah, Joshaphat the Mithnite,

⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite,

⁴⁵Jediael son of Shimri, his brother Joha the Tizite,

⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

⁴⁷Eliel, Obed and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

¹“Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal.

²I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel.

³Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand.

⁴On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals.

⁵You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.

⁶I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷“ ‘I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel.

⁸It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I have spoken of.

⁹“ ‘Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

¹⁰They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign LORD.

¹¹“ ‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.

¹²“ ‘For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

¹³All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign LORD.

¹⁴People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground. “ ‘After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search.

¹⁵As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will leave a marker beside it until the gravediggers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog,

¹⁶near a town called Hamonah. And so they will cleanse the land.’

¹⁷“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.

¹⁸You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan.

¹⁹At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk.

²⁰At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.

²¹“I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay on them.

²²From that day forward the people of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.

²³And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

²⁴I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.

²⁵“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.

²⁶They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid.

²⁷When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations.

²⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.

²⁹I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

²When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

⁴I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

⁵as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.

⁹My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹²“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.

¹³He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

¹⁵You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

²⁰And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

³⁰The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.