Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

³So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.

⁶So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

⁷Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

⁸“Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?”

⁹“Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

¹⁰But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

¹¹He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.”

¹²Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

¹³Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep.

¹⁴So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died.

¹⁵I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (called “Twin” ) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away).

¹⁹Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

²⁰As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

²¹Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

²²Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.

²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.

²⁶Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

²⁸Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

³¹The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

³²As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

³³When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.

³⁴“Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

³⁹“Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.

⁴²I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.”

⁴³After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

⁴⁵Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.

⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs?

⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!

⁵⁰You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,

⁵²and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.

⁵³So from that day on they plotted to kill him.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple: “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival, will he?”

⁵⁷The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.

¹“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

²This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s release of debts has been proclaimed.

³You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

⁴“There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD is certain to bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance  —

⁵if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today.

⁶When the LORD your God blesses you as he has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you.

⁷“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

⁸Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.

⁹Be careful that there isn’t this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty.

¹⁰Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

¹¹For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, ‘Open your hand willingly to your poor and needy brother in your land.’

¹²“If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.

¹³When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed.

¹⁴Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the LORD your God has blessed you with.

¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

¹⁶But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you,

¹⁷take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way.

¹⁸Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years — worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

¹⁹“Consecrate to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

²⁰Each year you and your family are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD chooses.

²¹But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you may not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

²²Eat it within your city gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer.

²³But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water.

¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

²Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

³For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

⁴Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function,

⁵in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

⁶According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith;

⁷if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching;

⁸if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁰Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor.

¹¹Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.

¹²Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.

¹³Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.

¹⁸If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

¹⁹Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.

²⁰But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.

²¹Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

¹See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.

²Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

³And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

⁵You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.

⁶Everyone who remains in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.

⁷Children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

⁸The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

⁹Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.

¹⁰This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

¹¹For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,

¹²unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

¹⁷If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him — how does God’s love reside in him?

¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

¹⁹This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

²²and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

²³Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us.

²⁴The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.

¹I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

²I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

³I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body — my mind still guiding me with wisdom — and how to grasp folly, until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

⁴I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

⁵I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.

⁶I constructed reservoirs for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.

⁷I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned livestock — large herds and flocks — more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

⁸I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.

⁹So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.

¹⁰All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.

¹¹When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

¹²Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor be like? He will do what has already been done.

¹³And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.

¹⁴The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

¹⁵So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

¹⁶For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool?

¹⁷Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁸I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

²⁰So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun.

²¹When there is a person whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a person who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong.

²²For what does a person get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

²³For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

²⁴There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand,

²⁵because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?

²⁶For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹For the choir director. Of the servant of the LORD, David, who spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the power of Saul. He said: [1] I love you, LORD, my strength.

²The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

³I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I was saved from my enemies.

⁴The ropes of death were wrapped around me; the torrents of destruction terrified me.

⁵The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁶I called to the LORD in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the mountains trembled; they shook because he burned with anger.

⁸Smoke rose from his nostrils, and consuming fire came from his mouth; coals were set ablaze by it.

⁹He bent the heavens and came down, total darkness beneath his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his hiding place, dark storm clouds his canopy around him.

¹²From the radiance of his presence, his clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.

¹³The LORD thundered from heaven; the Most High made his voice heard.

¹⁴He shot his arrows and scattered them; he hurled lightning bolts and routed them.

¹⁵The depths of the sea became visible, the foundations of the world were exposed, at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he pulled me out of deep water.

¹⁷He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.

¹⁹He brought me out to a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

²⁰The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; he repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not turned from my God to wickedness.

²²Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me and have not disregarded his statutes.

²³I was blameless toward him and kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴So the LORD repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵With the faithful you prove yourself faithful, with the blameless you prove yourself blameless,

²⁶with the pure you prove yourself pure; but with the crooked you prove yourself shrewd.

²⁷For you rescue an oppressed people, but you humble those with haughty eyes.

²⁸LORD, you light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness.

²⁹With you I can attack a barricade, and with my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰God — his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

³¹For who is God besides the LORD? And who is a rock? Only our God.

³²God — he clothes me with strength and makes my way perfect.

³³He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me securely on the heights.

³⁴He trains my hands for war; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have given me the shield of your salvation; your right hand upholds me, and your humility exalts me.

³⁶You make a spacious place beneath me for my steps, and my ankles do not give way.

³⁷I pursue my enemies and overtake them; I do not turn back until they are wiped out.

³⁸I crush them, and they cannot get up; they fall beneath my feet.

³⁹You have clothed me with strength for battle; you subdue my adversaries beneath me.

⁴⁰You have made my enemies retreat before me; I annihilate those who hate me.

⁴¹They cry for help, but there is no one to save them  — they cry to the LORD, but he does not answer them.

⁴²I pulverize them like dust before the wind; I trample them like mud in the streets.

⁴³You have freed me from the feuds among the people; you have appointed me the head of nations; a people I had not known serve me.

⁴⁴Foreigners submit to me cringing; as soon as they hear they obey me.

⁴⁵Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their fortifications.

⁴⁶The LORD lives — blessed be my rock! The God of my salvation is exalted.

⁴⁷God — he grants me vengeance and subdues peoples under me.

⁴⁸He frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my adversaries; you rescue me from violent men.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to you among the nations, LORD; I will sing praises about your name.

⁵⁰He gives great victories to his king; he shows loyalty to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

¹A wise son responds to his father’s discipline, but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of his mouth, a person will enjoy good things, but treacherous people have an appetite for violence.

³The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

⁴The slacker craves, yet has nothing, but the diligent is fully satisfied.

⁵The righteous hate lying, but the wicked bring disgust and shame.

⁶Righteousness guards people of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.

⁷One person pretends to be rich but has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has abundant wealth.

⁸Riches are a ransom for a person’s life, but a poor person hears no threat.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is put out.

¹⁰Arrogance leads to nothing but strife, but wisdom is gained by those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth obtained by fraud will dwindle, but whoever earns it through labor will multiply it.

¹²Hope delayed makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³The one who has contempt for instruction will pay the penalty, but the one who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴A wise person’s instruction is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous never changes.

¹⁶Every sensible person acts knowledgeably, but a fool displays his stupidity.

¹⁷A wicked envoy falls into trouble, but a trustworthy courier brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace come to those who ignore discipline, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.

¹⁹Desire fulfilled is sweet to the taste, but to turn from evil is detestable to fools.

²⁰The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Disaster pursues sinners, but good rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

²³The uncultivated field of the poor yields abundant food, but without justice, it is swept away.

²⁴The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

²⁵A righteous person eats until he is satisfied, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.

¹When David had settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the LORD’s covenant is under tent curtains.”

²So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your mind, for God is with you.”

³But that night the word of God came to Nathan:

⁴“Go to David my servant and say, ‘This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.

⁵From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have moved from one tent site to another, and from one tabernacle location to another.

⁶In all my journeys throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar? ’

⁷“So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.

⁸I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth.

⁹I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done

¹⁰ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. “‘Furthermore, I declare to you that the LORD himself will build a house for you.

¹¹When your time comes to be with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹²He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.

¹³I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you.

¹⁴I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’”

¹⁵Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

¹⁶Then King David went in, sat in the LORD’s presence, and said, Who am I, LORD God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far?

¹⁷This was a little thing to you, God, for you have spoken about your servant’s house in the distant future. You regard me as a man of distinction, LORD God.

¹⁸What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant.

¹⁹LORD, you have done this whole great thing, making known all these great promises for the sake of your servant and according to your will.

²⁰LORD, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, as all we have heard confirms.

²¹And who is like your people Israel? God, you came to one nation on earth to redeem a people for yourself, to make a name for yourself through great and awesome works by driving out nations before your people you redeemed from Egypt.

²²You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

²³Now, LORD, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house be confirmed forever, and do as you have promised.

²⁴Let your name be confirmed and magnified forever in the saying, “The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.” May the house of your servant David be established before you.

²⁵Since you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has found courage to pray in your presence.

²⁶LORD, you indeed are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

²⁷So now, you have been pleased to bless your servant’s house that it may continue before you forever. For you, LORD, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever.

¹“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, set aside a donation to the LORD, a holy portion of the land, 8⅓ miles long and 6⅔ miles wide. This entire region will be holy.

²In this area there will be a square section for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet, with 87½ feet of open space all around it.

³From this holy portion, you will measure off an area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand.

⁴It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who approach to serve the LORD. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary.

⁵There will be another area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide for the Levites who minister in the temple; it will be their possession for towns to live in.

⁶“As the property of the city, set aside an area 1⅔ miles wide and 8⅓ miles long, adjacent to the holy donation of land. It will be for the whole house of Israel.

⁷And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation of land and the city’s property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city’s property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. Its length will correspond to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary.

⁸This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people but give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

⁹“This is what the Lord GOD says: You have gone too far, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

¹⁰“You are to have honest scales, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure.

¹¹The dry measure and the liquid measure will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5½ gallons and the dry measure holding half a bushel. Their measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure.

¹²The shekel will weigh twenty gerahs. Your mina will equal sixty shekels.

¹³“This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts from five bushels of wheat and three quarts from five bushels of barley.

¹⁴The quota of oil in liquid measures will be one percent of every cor. The cor equals ten liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure, since ten liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure.

¹⁵And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

¹⁶“All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel.

¹⁷Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths — for all the appointed times of the house of Israel — will be the prince’s responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

¹⁸“This is what the Lord GOD says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary.

¹⁹The priest is to take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply it to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar’s ledge, and the doorposts of the gate of the inner court.

²⁰You are to do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.

²¹“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days during which unleavened bread will be eaten.

²²On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land.

²³During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering.

²⁴He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel.

²⁵At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he will provide the same things for seven days — the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

¹Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

³As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

²⁰For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah

²⁶when he said, Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

²⁷For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,

³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.