Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth.

²His disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.

⁴We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.

⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.

⁷“Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?”

⁹Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.”

¹⁰So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.”

¹²“Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said.

¹³They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.

¹⁴The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

¹⁵Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.

¹⁷Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” “He’s a prophet,” he said.

¹⁸The Jews did not believe this about him — that he was blind and received sight — until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.

¹⁹They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

²⁰“We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered.

²¹“But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.”

²²His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, he would be banned from the synagogue.

²³This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.”

²⁴So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷“I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

²⁸They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples.

²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man — we don’t know where he’s from.”

³⁰“This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. “You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.

³¹We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.

³²Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.

³³If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

³⁴“You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶“Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked.

³⁷Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸“I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

⁴¹“If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

¹“If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

²and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’

³do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.

⁴You must follow the LORD your God and fear him. You must keep his commands and listen to him; you must worship him and remain faithful to him.

⁵That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has urged rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the place of slavery, to turn you from the way the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from you.

⁶“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ — which neither you nor your fathers have known,

⁷any of the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other —

⁸do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him.

⁹Instead, you must kill him. Your hand is to be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

¹⁰Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

¹¹All Israel will hear and be afraid, and they will no longer do anything evil like this among you.

¹²“If you hear it said about one of your cities the LORD your God is giving you to live in,

¹³that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,’ which you have not known,

¹⁴you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable act has been done among you,

¹⁵you must strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Completely destroy everyone in it as well as its livestock with the sword.

¹⁶You are to gather all its spoil in the middle of the city square and completely burn the city and all its spoil for the LORD your God. The city is to remain a mound of ruins forever; it is not to be rebuilt.

¹⁷Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that the LORD will turn from his burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as he swore to your fathers.

¹⁸This will occur if you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands I am giving you today, doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.

¹Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation.

²I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

³Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,

⁵since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.

⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down

⁷or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

⁸On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:

⁹If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

¹¹For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,

¹²since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him.

¹³For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

¹⁴How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

¹⁶But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

¹⁷So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

¹⁸But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

¹⁹But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.

²⁰And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me.

²¹But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

¹What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life —

²that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us  —

³what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

⁶If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

⁷If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted.

³You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know.

⁴You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.”

⁵I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

⁶Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them; I am dust and ashes.

⁷After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then my servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”

⁹Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and doubled his previous possessions.

¹¹All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to him and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the LORD had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold earring.

¹²So the LORD blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned fourteen thousand sheep and goats, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.

¹⁵No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.

¹⁶Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁷Then Job died, old and full of days.

¹A of David. [1] Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”

³As for the holy people who are in the land, they are the noble ones. All my delight is in them.

⁴The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not speak their names with my lips.

⁵LORD, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future.

⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷I will bless the LORD who counsels me  — even at night when my thoughts trouble me.

⁸I always let the LORD guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.

¹⁰For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

¹¹You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

¹Dishonest scales are detestable to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

²When arrogance comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them.

⁴Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless clears his path, but the wicked person will fall because of his wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright rescues them, but the treacherous are trapped by their own desires.

⁷When the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes.

⁸The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in.

⁹With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued.

¹⁰When the righteous thrive, a city rejoices; when the wicked die, there is joyful shouting.

¹¹A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks sense, but a person with understanding keeps silent.

¹³A gossip goes around revealing a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

¹⁴Without guidance, a people will fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.

¹⁵If someone puts up security for a stranger, he will suffer for it, but the one who hates such agreements is protected.

¹⁶A gracious woman gains honor, but violent people gain only riches.

¹⁷A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel person brings ruin on himself.

¹⁸The wicked person earns an empty wage, but the one who sows righteousness, a true reward.

¹⁹Genuine righteousness leads to life, but pursuing evil leads to death.

²⁰Those with twisted minds are detestable to the LORD, but those with blameless conduct are his delight.

²¹Be assured that a wicked person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

²²A beautiful woman who rejects good sense is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³The desire of the righteous turns out well, but the hope of the wicked leads to wrath.

²⁴One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

²⁵A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.

²⁶People will curse anyone who hoards grain, but a blessing will come to the one who sells it.

²⁷The one who searches for what is good seeks favor, but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him.

²⁸Anyone trusting in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.

²⁹The one who brings ruin on his household will inherit the wind, and a fool will be a slave to someone whose heart is wise.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and a wise person captivates people. 

³¹If the righteous will be repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and sinful.

¹David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

²Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before him forever.”

³David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.

⁴[4a] Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

⁵From the Kohathites, Uriel the leader and 120 of his relatives;

⁶from the Merarites, Asaiah the leader and 220 of his relatives;

⁷from the Gershomites, Joel the leader and 130 of his relatives;

⁸from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the leader and 200 of his relatives;

⁹from the Hebronites, Eliel the leader and 80 of his relatives;

¹⁰from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the leader and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

¹²He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levite families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.

¹³For the LORD our God burst out in anger against us because you Levites were not with us the first time, for we didn’t inquire of him about the proper procedures.”

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.

¹⁵Then the Levites carried the ark of God the way Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD: on their shoulders with the poles.

¹⁶Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers and to have them raise their voices with joy accompanied by musical instruments — harps, lyres, and cymbals.

¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berechiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah.

¹⁸With them were their relatives second in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

¹⁹The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals;

²⁰Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth

²¹and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to the Sheminith.

²²Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music because he was skillful.

²³Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁴The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁵David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom.

²⁶Because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, with God’s help, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the music leader of the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

²⁸So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, the sound of the ram’s horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and the playing of harps and lyres.

²⁹As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing, and she despised him in her heart.

¹He led me to the gate, the one that faces east,

²and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice sounded like the roar of a huge torrent, and the earth shone with his glory.

³The vision I saw was like the one I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the ones I had seen by the Chebar Canal. I fell facedown.

⁴The glory of the LORD entered the temple by way of the gate that faced east.

⁵Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁶While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from the temple.

⁷He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile my holy name by their religious prostitution and by the corpses of their kings at their high places.

⁸Whenever they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by the detestable acts they committed. So I destroyed them in my anger.

⁹Now let them remove their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰“As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure its pattern,

¹¹and they will be ashamed of all that they have done. Reveal the design of the temple to them — its layout with its exits and entrances  — its complete design along with all its statutes, design specifications, and laws. Write it down in their sight so that they may observe its complete design and all its statutes and may carry them out.

¹²This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be especially holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar in units of length (each unit being the standard length plus three inches): The gutter is 21 inches deep and 21 inches wide, with a rim of nine inches around its edge. This is the base of the altar.

¹⁴The distance from the gutter on the ground to the lower ledge is 3½ feet, and the width of the ledge is 21 inches. There are 7 feet from the small ledge to the large ledge, whose width is also 21 inches.

¹⁵The altar hearth is 7 feet high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.

¹⁶The hearth is square, 21 feet long by 21 feet wide.

¹⁷The ledge is 24½ feet long by 24½ feet wide, with four equal sides. The rim all around it is 10½ inches, and its gutter is 21 inches all around it. The altar’s steps face east.”

¹⁸Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is constructed, so that burnt offerings may be sacrificed on it and blood may be splattered on it:

¹⁹You are to give a bull from the herd as a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, who approach me in order to serve me.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

²⁰“You are to take some of its blood and apply it to the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. In this way you will purify the altar and make atonement for it.

²¹Then you are to take away the bull for the sin offering, and it must be burned outside the sanctuary in the place appointed for the temple.

²²“On the second day you are to present an unblemished male goat as a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they did with the bull.

²³When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.

²⁴You are to present them before the LORD; the priests will throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵You will offer a goat for a sin offering each day for seven days. A young bull and a ram from the flock, both unblemished, are also to be offered.

²⁶For seven days the priests are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it. In this way they will consecrate it

²⁷and complete the days of purification. Then on the eighth day and afterward, the priests will offer your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar, and I will accept you.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”