Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death.

²But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters,

³and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles!

⁴You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!”

⁵For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

⁶Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime.

⁷The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil.

⁸You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.”

⁹After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view.

¹¹The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him.

¹²There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.”

¹³But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.

¹⁴Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach.

¹⁵The people were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.

¹⁶So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me.

¹⁷Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.

¹⁸Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.

¹⁹Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.”

²⁰The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”

²¹Jesus replied, “I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed.

²²But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision began with the patriarchs, long before the law of Moses.)

²³For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath?

²⁴Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

²⁵Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

²⁶But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Could our leaders possibly believe that he is the Messiah?

²⁷But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”

²⁸While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him.

²⁹But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.”

³⁰Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

³¹Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”

³²When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus.

³³But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me.

³⁴You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.”

³⁵The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is he planning to go?” they asked. “Is he thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands? Maybe he will even teach the Greeks!

³⁶What does he mean when he says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”

³⁷On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!

³⁸Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”

³⁹(When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)

⁴⁰When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”

⁴¹Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee?

⁴²For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”

⁴³So the crowd was divided about him.

⁴⁴Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶“We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.

⁴⁷“Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked.

⁴⁸“Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him?

⁴⁹This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”

⁵⁰Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up.

⁵¹“Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.

⁵²They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself — no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” [The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53–8:11.]

⁵³Then the meeting broke up, and everybody went home.

¹“You must love the LORD your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands.

²Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm.

³They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.

⁴They didn’t see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots — how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!

⁵“Your children didn’t see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here.

⁶They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.

⁷But you have seen the LORD perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!

⁸“Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter.

⁹If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants — a land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁰For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.

¹¹Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain —

¹²a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!

¹³“If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul,

¹⁴then he will send the rains in their proper seasons — the early and late rains — so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil.

¹⁵He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

¹⁶“But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods.

¹⁷If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you.

¹⁸“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.

¹⁹Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.

²²“Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.

²³Then the LORD will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land.

²⁴Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

²⁵No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.

²⁶“Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!

²⁷You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today.

²⁸But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.

²⁹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

³⁰(These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley, near the town of Gilgal, not far from the oaks of Moreh.)

³¹For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it,

³²you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today.

¹So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

²And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

³The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

⁴He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

⁵Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

⁶So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

⁷For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.

⁸That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

⁹But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

¹⁰And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

¹¹The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

¹²Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

¹³For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

¹⁵So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

¹⁶For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

¹⁷And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

¹⁸Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

¹⁹For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

²⁰Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,

²¹the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

²²For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

²³And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

²⁴We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.

²⁵But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

²⁶And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

²⁷And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

²⁸And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

²⁹For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

³⁰And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

³¹What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

³²Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

³³Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one — for God himself has given us right standing with himself.

³⁴Who then will condemn us? No one — for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

³⁶(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” )

³⁷No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

³⁹No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.

²Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.

³In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

⁴For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.

⁵And God did not spare the ancient world — except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.

⁶Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.

⁷But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.

⁸Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.

⁹So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.

¹⁰He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling.

¹¹But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

¹²These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.

¹³Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.

¹⁴They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.

¹⁵They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.

¹⁶But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

¹⁷These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.

¹⁸They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.

¹⁹They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

²⁰And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.

²¹It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.

²²They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

¹Then the LORD said to Job,

²“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?”

³Then Job replied to the LORD,

⁴“I am nothing — how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand.

⁵I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷“Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

⁸“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?

⁹Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty.

¹¹Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud.

¹²Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead.

¹⁴Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.

¹⁵“Take a look at Behemoth, which I made, just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷Its tail is as strong as a cedar. The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron.

¹⁹It is a prime example of God’s handiwork, and only its Creator can threaten it.

²⁰The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play.

²¹It lies under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds in the marsh.

²²The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream.

²³It is not disturbed by the raging river, not concerned when the swelling Jordan rushes around it.

²⁴No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.

¹Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!

²The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God.

³But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

⁴Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the LORD.

⁵Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him.

⁶The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the LORD will protect his people.

⁷Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When the LORD restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns.

²She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table.

³She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city.

⁴“Come in with me,” she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment.”

⁷Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return. Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt.

⁸So don’t bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.

¹⁰Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

¹¹Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.

¹²If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer.

¹³The woman named Folly is brash. She is ignorant and doesn’t know it.

¹⁴She sits in her doorway on the heights overlooking the city.

¹⁵She calls out to men going by who are minding their own business.

¹⁶“Come in with me,” she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!”

¹⁸But little do they know that the dead are there. Her guests are in the depths of the grave.

¹David consulted with all his officials, including the generals and captains of his army.

²Then he addressed the entire assembly of Israel as follows: “If you approve and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send messages to all the Israelites throughout the land, including the priests and Levites in their towns and pasturelands. Let us invite them to come and join us.

³It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.”

⁴The whole assembly agreed to this, for the people could see it was the right thing to do.

⁵So David summoned all Israel, from the Shihor Brook of Egypt in the south all the way to the town of Lebo-hamath in the north, to join in bringing the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

⁶Then David and all Israel went to Baalah of Judah (also called Kiriath-jearim) to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD who is enthroned between the cherubim.

⁷They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the cart.

⁸David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments — lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

⁹But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark.

¹⁰Then the LORD’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the Ark. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God.

¹¹David was angry because the LORD’s anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means “to burst out against Uzzah”), as it is still called today.

¹²David was now afraid of God, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?”

¹³So David did not move the Ark into the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath.

¹⁴The Ark of God remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the LORD blessed the household of Obed-edom and everything he owned.

¹After that, the man brought me into the sanctuary of the Temple. He measured the walls on either side of its doorway, and they were 10 1⁄2 feet thick.

²The doorway was 17 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of it were 8 3⁄4 feet long. The sanctuary itself was 70 feet long and 35 feet wide.

³Then he went beyond the sanctuary into the inner room. He measured the walls on either side of its entrance, and they were 3 1⁄2 feet thick. The entrance was 10 1⁄2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were 12 1⁄4 feet long.

⁴The inner room of the sanctuary was 35 feet long and 35 feet wide. “This,” he told me, “is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵Then he measured the wall of the Temple, and it was 10 1⁄2 feet thick. There was a row of rooms along the outside wall; each room was 7 feet wide.

⁶These side rooms were built in three levels, one above the other, with thirty rooms on each level. The supports for these side rooms rested on exterior ledges on the Temple wall; they did not extend into the wall.

⁷Each level was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway led up from the bottom level through the middle level to the top level.

⁸I saw that the Temple was built on a terrace, which provided a foundation for the side rooms. This terrace was 10 1⁄2 feet high.

⁹The outer wall of the Temple’s side rooms was 8 3⁄4 feet thick. This left an open area between these side rooms

¹⁰and the row of rooms along the outer wall of the inner courtyard. This open area was 35 feet wide, and it went all the way around the Temple.

¹¹Two doors opened from the side rooms into the terrace yard, which was 8 3⁄4 feet wide. One door faced north and the other south.

¹²A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple courtyard. It was 122 1⁄2 feet wide and 157 1⁄2 feet long, and its walls were 8 3⁄4 feet thick.

¹³Then the man measured the Temple, and it was 175 feet long. The courtyard around the building, including its walls, was an additional 175 feet in length.

¹⁴The inner courtyard to the east of the Temple was also 175 feet wide.

¹⁵The building to the west, including its two walls, was also 175 feet wide. The sanctuary, the inner room, and the entry room of the Temple

¹⁶were all paneled with wood, as were the frames of the recessed windows. The inner walls of the Temple were paneled with wood above and below the windows.

¹⁷The space above the door leading into the inner room, and its walls inside and out, were also paneled.

¹⁸All the walls were decorated with carvings of cherubim, each with two faces, and there was a carving of a palm tree between each of the cherubim.

¹⁹One face — that of a man — looked toward the palm tree on one side. The other face — that of a young lion — looked toward the palm tree on the other side. The figures were carved all along the inside of the Temple,

²⁰from the floor to the top of the walls, including the outer wall of the sanctuary.

²¹There were square columns at the entrance to the sanctuary, and the ones at the entrance of the Most Holy Place were similar.

²²There was an altar made of wood, 5 1⁄4 feet high and 3 1⁄2 feet across. Its corners, base, and sides were all made of wood. “This,” the man told me, “is the table that stands in the LORD’s presence.”

²³Both the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doorways,

²⁴each with two swinging doors.

²⁵The doors leading into the sanctuary were decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. And there was a wooden roof at the front of the entry room to the Temple.

²⁶On both sides of the entry room were recessed windows decorated with carved palm trees. The side rooms along the outside wall also had roofs.

¹Five days later Ananias, the high priest, arrived with some of the Jewish elders and the lawyer Tertullus, to present their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented the charges against Paul in the following address to the governor: “You have provided a long period of peace for us Jews and with foresight have enacted reforms for us.

³For all of this, Your Excellency, we are very grateful to you.

⁴But I don’t want to bore you, so please give me your attention for only a moment.

⁵We have found this man to be a troublemaker who is constantly stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the cult known as the Nazarenes.

⁶Furthermore, he was trying to desecrate the Temple when we arrested him.

⁷

⁸You can find out the truth of our accusations by examining him yourself.”

⁹Then the other Jews chimed in, declaring that everything Tertullus said was true.

¹⁰The governor then motioned for Paul to speak. Paul said, “I know, sir, that you have been a judge of Jewish affairs for many years, so I gladly present my defense before you.

¹¹You can quickly discover that I arrived in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago to worship at the Temple.

¹²My accusers never found me arguing with anyone in the Temple, nor stirring up a riot in any synagogue or on the streets of the city.

¹³These men cannot prove the things they accuse me of doing.

¹⁴“But I admit that I follow the Way, which they call a cult. I worship the God of our ancestors, and I firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have the same hope in God that these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people.

¹⁷“After several years away, I returned to Jerusalem with money to aid my people and to offer sacrifices to God.

¹⁸My accusers saw me in the Temple as I was completing a purification ceremony. There was no crowd around me and no rioting.

¹⁹But some Jews from the province of Asia were there — and they ought to be here to bring charges if they have anything against me!

²⁰Ask these men here what crime the Jewish high council found me guilty of,

²¹except for the one time I shouted out, ‘I am on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!’”

²²At that point Felix, who was quite familiar with the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “Wait until Lysias, the garrison commander, arrives. Then I will decide the case.”

²³He ordered an officer to keep Paul in custody but to give him some freedom and allow his friends to visit him and take care of his needs.

²⁴A few days later Felix came back with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. Sending for Paul, they listened as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵As he reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,” he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again.”

²⁶He also hoped that Paul would bribe him, so he sent for him quite often and talked with him.

²⁷After two years went by in this way, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And because Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jewish people, he left Paul in prison.