Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

²But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

³To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

⁵However, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

⁶Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.

⁷So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

⁸All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, andhave it abundantly.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock.

¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,

¹⁵just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd.

¹⁷For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back.

¹⁸No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”

¹⁹Dissension occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

²⁰Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”

²¹Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who is demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of those who are blind, can it?”

²²At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem;

²³it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon.

²⁴The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.

²⁶But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.

²⁷My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

²⁸and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

³⁰I and the Father areone.”

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

³²Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

³³The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’?

³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified),

³⁶are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

³⁷If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you mayknow and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

³⁹Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp.

⁴⁰And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there.

⁴¹Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.”

⁴²And many believed in Him there.

¹“You are sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave a bald spot above your forehead for the dead.

²For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³“You shall not eat any detestable thing.

⁴These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

⁶And any animal that has a divided hoof and has its hoofs split in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, that animal you may eat.

⁷However, you are not to eat these among the ones that chew the cud, or among those that have the hoof divided in two: the camel, the rabbit, and the rock hyrax, for though they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean to you.

⁸And the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

⁹“These you may eat of everything that is in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

¹⁰but anything that does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹“You may eat any clean bird.

¹²But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

¹³and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

¹⁴and every raven in its kind,

¹⁵and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk in their kinds,

¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

¹⁷the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

¹⁸the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹And all the swarming insects with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰You may eat any clean bird.

²¹“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²²“You shall certainly tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes from the field every year.

²³You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

²⁴But if the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you,

²⁵then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

²⁶And you may spend the money on whatever your heart desires: on oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸“At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall deposit it in your town.

²⁹And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

¹I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Far from it! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

²God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

³“Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”

⁴But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.”

⁵In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.

⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.

⁷What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened;

⁸just as it is written: “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”

⁹And David says, “MAY THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.

¹⁰MAY THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS CONTINUALLY.”

¹¹I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? Far from it! But by their wrongdoing salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.

¹²Now if their wrongdoing proves to be riches for the world, and their failure, riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!

¹³But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Therefore insofar as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

¹⁴if somehow I may move my own people to jealousy and save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection proves to be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

¹⁶If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are as well.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,

¹⁸do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

²⁰Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;

²¹for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.

²²See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off.

²³And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.

²⁴For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

²⁶and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

²⁷“THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

²⁸In relation to the gospel they are enemies on your account, but in relation to God’s choice they are beloved on account of the fathers;

²⁹for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

³⁰For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,

³¹so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.

³²For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

³⁴For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?

³⁵Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, THAT IT WOULD BE PAID BACK TO HIM?

³⁶For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

²and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

³By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

⁴The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

⁵but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

⁶the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.

⁷Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

⁸On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.

⁹The one who says that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

¹⁰The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling.

¹¹But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

¹⁷The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

²²Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

²⁴As for you, see that what you heard from the beginning remains in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you remain in Him.

²⁸Now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not draw back from Him in shame at His coming.

²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been born of Him.

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

²“Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher, “Futility of futilities! All is futility.”

³What advantage does a person have in all his work Which he does under the sun?

⁴A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.

⁵Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hurrying to its place it rises there again.

⁶Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.

⁷All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.

⁸All things are wearisome; No one can tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

⁹What has been, it is what will be, And what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? It has already existed for ages Which were before us.

¹¹There is no remembrance of the earlier things, And of the later things as well, which will occur, There will be no remembrance of them Among those who will come later still.

¹²I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled.

¹⁴I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind.

¹⁸Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

¹Hear a just cause, LORD, give Your attention to my cry; Listen to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.

²Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with integrity.

³You have put my heart to the test; You have visited me by night; You have sifted me and You find nothing; My intent is that my mouth will not offend.

⁴As for the works of mankind, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.

⁶I have called upon You, for You will answer me, God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

⁷Show Your wonderful faithfulness, Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand From those who rise up against them.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings

⁹From the wicked who deal violently with me, My deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have closed their unfeeling hearts, With their mouths they speak proudly.

¹¹They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast us down to the ground.

¹²He is like a lion that is eager to tear, And as a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³Arise, LORD, confront him, make him bow down; Save my soul from the wicked with Your sword,

¹⁴From people by Your hand, LORD, From people of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with children, And leave their abundance to their babies.

¹⁵As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.

¹One who loves discipline loves knowledge, But one who hates rebuke is stupid.

²A good person will obtain favor from the LORD, But He will condemn a person who devises evil.

³A person will not be established by wickedness, But the root of the righteous will not be moved.

⁴An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked wait in ambush for blood, But the mouth of the upright will rescue them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But the house of the righteous will stand.

⁸A person will be praised according to his insight, But one of perverse mind will be despised.

⁹Better is one who is lightly esteemed and has a servant, Than one who honors himself and lacks bread.

¹⁰A righteous person has regard for the life of his animal, But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.

¹¹One who works his land will have plenty of bread, But one who pursues worthless things lacks sense.

¹²The wicked person desires the plunder of evil people, But the root of the righteous yields fruit.

¹³An evil person is ensnared by the offense of his lips, But the righteous will escape from trouble.

¹⁴A person will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words, And the deeds of a person’s hands will return to him.

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a person who listens to advice is wise.

¹⁶A fool’s anger is known at once, But a prudent person conceals dishonor.

¹⁷One who declares truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit.

¹⁸There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁹Truthful lips will endure forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment.

²⁰Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy.

²¹No harm happens to the righteous, But the wicked are filled with trouble.

²²Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, But those who deal faithfully are His delight.

²³A prudent person conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.

²⁴The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy hand will be put to forced labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.

²⁶The righteous person is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷A lazy person does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a person is diligence.

²⁸In the way of righteousness there is life, And in its pathway there is no death.

¹And they brought in the ark of God and placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

²When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

³Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both men and women, to everyone a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a raisin cake.

⁴He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

⁵Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, and lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,

⁶and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the LORD.

⁸Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make His deeds known among the peoples.

⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.

¹⁰Boast in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be joyful.

¹¹Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.

¹²Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,

¹³You descendants of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

¹⁴He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

¹⁶The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac.

¹⁷He also confirmed it to Jacob as a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹⁸Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance.”

¹⁹When they were only a few in number, Very few, and strangers in it,

²⁰And they wandered from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people,

²¹He allowed no one to oppress them, And He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying,

²²“Do not touch My anointed ones, And do not harm My prophets.”

²³Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day.

²⁴Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

²⁵For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place.

²⁸Ascribe to the LORD, you families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy attire.

³⁰Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.

³¹Let the heavens be joyful, and the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”

³²Let the sea roar, and everything it contains; Let the field rejoice, and everything that is in it.

³³Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy in the presence of the LORD; For He is coming to judge the earth.

³⁴Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His faithfulness is everlasting.

³⁵Then say, “Save us, God of our salvation, And gather us and save us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name, And glory in Your praise.”

³⁶Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting! Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD.

³⁷So he left Asaph and his relatives there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required,

³⁸and Obed-edom with his sixty-eight relatives; Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah as gatekeepers.

³⁹He left Zadok the priest and his relatives the priests before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place which was at Gibeon,

⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to everything that is written in the Law of the LORD, which He commanded Israel.

⁴¹With them were Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because His kindness is everlasting.

⁴²And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who were to play them, and with instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate.

⁴³Then all the people departed, each to his house; and David returned to bless his household.

¹Then He brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut.

²And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

³As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”

⁴Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I fell on my face.

⁵And the LORD said to me, “Son of man, pay attention, see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything that I say to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the LORD and all its laws; and pay attention to the entrance of the house, with all the exits of the sanctuary.

⁶You shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel,

⁷when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, My house, when you offered My food, the fat, and the blood and they broke My covenant—this in addition to all your abominations.

⁸And you have not taken responsibility for My holy things yourselves, but you have appointed foreigners to take responsibility for My sanctuary.”

⁹‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

¹⁰But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me following their idols, shall suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing.

¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

¹²Since they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of wrongdoing to the house of Israel, for that reason I have sworn against them,” declares the Lord GOD, “that they shall suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing.

¹³And they shall not approach Me to serve as priests for Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

¹⁴Nevertheless I will appoint them to take responsibility for the house, of all its service and of everything that shall be done in it.

¹⁵“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who took responsibility for My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to serve Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁶“They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to serve Me and assume the responsibility I give them.

¹⁷And it shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner courtyard, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be worn by them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner courtyard or in the house.

¹⁸Linen turbans shall be on their heads and linen undergarments shall be around their waists; they shall not put on anything that makes them sweat.

¹⁹And when they go out into the outer courtyard, into the outer courtyard to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments, so that they will not transfer holiness to the people with their garments.

²⁰Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

²¹Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard.

²²And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but shall take virgins from the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

²³Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and teach them to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

²⁴In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts, and sanctify My Sabbaths.

²⁵They shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.

²⁶And after he is cleansed, seven days shall elapse for him.

²⁷On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, to the inner courtyard to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,” declares the Lord GOD.

²⁸“And it shall be regarding an inheritance for them, that I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no property in Israel—I am their property.

²⁹They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and everything banned from secular use in Israel shall be theirs.

³⁰And the first of all the first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough, to make a blessing rest on your house.

³¹The priests shall not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or has been torn to pieces by animals.

¹Now when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to turn Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan cohort, named Julius.

²And we boarded an Adramyttian ship that was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, and put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

³The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.

⁴From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

⁵When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

⁷When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone;

⁸and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul started admonishing them,

¹⁰saying to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

¹¹But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.

¹²The harbor was not suitable for wintering, so the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

¹³When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, closer to shore.

¹⁴But before very long a violent wind, called Euraquilo, rushed down from the land;

¹⁵and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind.

¹⁶Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s boat under control only with difficulty.

¹⁷After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way.

¹⁸The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo;

¹⁹and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.

²⁰Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.

²¹When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this damage and loss.

²²And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me,

²⁴saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you all those who are sailing with you.’

²⁵Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.

²⁶But we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land.

²⁸And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms.

²⁹Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.”

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing.

³⁴Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.”

³⁵Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶All of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.

³⁷We were 276 people on the ship in all.

³⁸When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by throwing the wheat out into the sea.

³⁹Now when day came, they could not recognize the land; but they did notice a bay with a beach, and they resolved to run the ship onto it if they could.

⁴⁰And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and were heading for the beach.

⁴¹But they struck a reef where two seas met and ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck firmly and remained immovable, while the stern started to break up due to the force of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape;

⁴³but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from accomplishing their intention, and commanded that those who could swim were to jump overboard first and get to land,

⁴⁴and the rest were to follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.