Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.

²Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

³His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.

⁴For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”

⁵For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

⁶Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.

⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

⁸You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.”

⁹When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

¹¹Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?”

¹²And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.”

¹³However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

¹⁵And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

¹⁶Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

¹⁷If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.

¹⁸He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

¹⁹Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

²⁰The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

²¹Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel.

²²Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

²³If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

²⁴Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

²⁵Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill?

²⁶But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?

²⁷However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

²⁸Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.

²⁹But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

³⁰Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

³¹And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.

³³Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.

³⁴You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

³⁵Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

³⁶What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

³⁷On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

³⁸He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

³⁹But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.”

⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee?

⁴²Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”

⁴³So there was a division among the people because of Him.

⁴⁴Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

⁴⁵Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

⁴⁶The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived?

⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?

⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them,

⁵¹“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

⁵²They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

⁵³And everyone went to his own house.

¹“Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.

²Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm—

³His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land;

⁴what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;

⁵what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

⁶and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel—

⁷but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did.

⁸“Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess,

⁹and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁰For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;

¹¹but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,

¹²a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

¹³‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

¹⁴then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

¹⁵And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’

¹⁶“Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,

¹⁷lest the LORD’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

¹⁸“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

¹⁹You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

²⁰And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

²²“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

²³then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.

²⁴Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.

²⁵No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

²⁶“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:

²⁷the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;

²⁸and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

²⁹Now it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

³⁰Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?

³¹For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it.

³²And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

¹There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

³For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

⁴that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

⁶For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

⁸So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

¹⁰And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

¹¹But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

¹³For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

¹⁵For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

¹⁶The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

²¹because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

²²For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

²³Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

²⁴For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

²⁷Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

³²He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

³³Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

²And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

³By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

⁴For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

⁵and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

⁶and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

⁷and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked

⁸(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—

⁹then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

¹⁰and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

¹¹whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

¹²But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

¹³and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,

¹⁴having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

¹⁵They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

¹⁶but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁸For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

¹⁹While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

²⁰For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

²²But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

¹Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said:

²“Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”

³Then Job answered the LORD and said:

⁴“Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

⁵Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

⁷“Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me:

⁸“Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

⁹Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, And array yourself with glory and beauty.

¹¹Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.

¹²Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place.

¹³Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.

¹⁴Then I will also confess to you That your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵“Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles.

¹⁷He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

¹⁸His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.

¹⁹He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword.

²⁰Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him.

²³Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,

²⁴Though he takes it in his eyes, Or one pierces his nose with a snare.

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. [1] The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.

²The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

³They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD?

⁵There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous.

⁶You shame the counsel of the poor, But the LORD is his refuge.

⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

¹Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars;

²She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table.

³She has sent out her maidens, She cries out from the highest places of the city,

⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,

⁵“Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed.

⁶Forsake foolishness and live, And go in the way of understanding.

⁷“He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.

⁸Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

⁹Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”

¹³A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing.

¹⁴For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city,

¹⁵To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way:

¹⁶“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”; And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell.

¹Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

²And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us;

³and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.”

⁴Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

⁵So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim.

⁶And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who dwells between the cherubim, where His name is proclaimed.

⁷So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

⁸Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.

⁹And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled.

¹⁰Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.

¹¹And David became angry because of the LORD’s outbreak against Uzza; therefore that place is called Perez Uzza to this day.

¹²David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”

¹³So David would not move the ark with him into the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

¹⁴The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.

¹Then he brought me into the sanctuary and measured the doorposts, six cubits wide on one side and six cubits wide on the other side—the width of the tabernacle.

²The width of the entryway was ten cubits, and the side walls of the entrance were five cubits on this side and five cubits on the other side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits.

³Also he went inside and measured the doorposts, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits high; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.

⁴He measured the length, twenty cubits; and the width, twenty cubits, beyond the sanctuary; and he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵Next, he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits. The width of each side chamber all around the temple was four cubits on every side.

⁶The side chambers were in three stories, one above the other, thirty chambers in each story; they rested on ledges which were for the side chambers all around, that they might be supported, but not fastened to the wall of the temple.

⁷As one went up from story to story, the side chambers became wider all around, because their supporting ledges in the wall of the temple ascended like steps; therefore the width of the structure increased as one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the middle one.

⁸I also saw an elevation all around the temple; it was the foundation of the side chambers, a full rod, that is, six cubits high.

⁹The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits, and so also the remaining terrace by the place of the side chambers of the temple.

¹⁰And between it and the wall chambers was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side.

¹¹The doors of the side chambers opened on the terrace, one door toward the north and another toward the south; and the width of the terrace was five cubits all around.

¹²The building that faced the separating courtyard at its western end was seventy cubits wide; the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

¹³So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separating courtyard with the building and its walls was one hundred cubits long;

¹⁴also the width of the eastern face of the temple, including the separating courtyard, was one hundred cubits.

¹⁵He measured the length of the building behind it, facing the separating courtyard, with its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits, as well as the inner temple and the porches of the court,

¹⁶their doorposts and the beveled window frames. And the galleries all around their three stories opposite the threshold were paneled with wood from the ground to the windows—the windows were covered—

¹⁷from the space above the door, even to the inner room, as well as outside, and on every wall all around, inside and outside, by measure.

¹⁸And it was made with cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces,

¹⁹so that the face of a man was toward a palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion toward a palm tree on the other side; thus it was made throughout the temple all around.

²⁰From the floor to the space above the door, and on the wall of the sanctuary, cherubim and palm trees were carved.

²¹The doorposts of the temple were square, as was the front of the sanctuary; their appearance was similar.

²²The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its sides were of wood; and he said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

²³The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

²⁴The doors had two panels apiece, two folding panels: two panels for one door and two panels for the other door.

²⁵Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the temple just as they were carved on the walls. A wooden canopy was on the front of the vestibule outside.

²⁶There were beveled window frames and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the vestibule—also on the side chambers of the temple and on the canopies.

¹Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.

²And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight,

³we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.

⁴Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us.

⁵For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.

⁷But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,

⁸commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.”

⁹And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so.

¹⁰Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself,

¹¹because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.

¹³Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.

¹⁴But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

¹⁵I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

¹⁶This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

¹⁷“Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation,

¹⁸in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult.

¹⁹They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me.

²⁰Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council,

²¹unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’ ”

²²But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.”

²³So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him.

²⁴And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

²⁵Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

²⁶Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.

²⁷But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.