Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

²“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

³But when yougive to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

⁵“And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

⁶But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

⁷“And when you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

⁸So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

⁹“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. ’

¹⁴For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

¹⁵But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive youroffenses.

¹⁶“Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

¹⁷But as for you, when you fast,anoint your head and wash your face,

¹⁸so that your fasting will not be noticed by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

²¹for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

²³But if your eye isbad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

²⁵“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?

²⁶Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?

²⁷And which of you by worrying can add a singleday to hislife’s span?

²⁸And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth,

²⁹yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

³¹Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’

³²For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³³Butseek firstHis kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will beprovided to you.

³⁴“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

¹So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

²And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today; I am no longer able to go out and come in, and the LORD has told me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’

³It is the LORD your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken.

⁴And the LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

⁵The LORD will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you.

⁶Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸And the LORD is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

⁹So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the release of debts, at the Feast of Booths,

¹¹when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel so that they hear it.

¹²Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to follow all the words of this Law.

¹³And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

¹⁵And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

¹⁷Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’

¹⁸But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

¹⁹“Now then, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

²⁰For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.

²¹Then it will come about, when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their descendants); for I know their inclination which they are developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.”

²²So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

²³Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

²⁴It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete,

²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,

²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

²⁷For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death?

²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them.

²⁹For I know that after my death you will behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

³⁰Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

¹Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.

²You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.

³Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

⁵And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

⁶There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

⁷But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

⁸For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;

⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

¹⁰and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

¹¹But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

¹²For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

¹³For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴For the body is not one part, but many.

¹⁵If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.

¹⁶And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.

¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

¹⁸But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.

¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be?

²⁰But now there are many parts, but one body.

²¹And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

²²On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

²³and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable,

²⁴whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,

²⁵so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.

²⁶And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it.

²⁷Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.

²⁸And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues.

²⁹All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?

³⁰All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?

³¹But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.

¹Then there was given to me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.

²Leave out the courtyard which is outside the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

³And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

⁵And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

⁷When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

⁸And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

⁹Those from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

¹⁰And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.

¹¹And after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.

¹²And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.

¹³And at that time there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,

¹⁷saying, “We give You thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.

¹⁸And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

¹“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?”

²“My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of balsam, To pasture his flock in the gardens And gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, He who pastures his flock among the lilies.”

⁴“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem, As awesome as an army with banners.

⁵Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes That have come up from their watering place, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young.

⁷Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate Behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And young women without number;

⁹But my dove, my perfect one, is unique: She is her mother’s only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who gave birth to her. The young women saw her and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

¹⁰‘Who is this who looks down like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?’

¹¹I went down to the orchard of nut trees To see the plants of the valley, To see whether the vine had grown Or the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people.”

¹³“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, so that we may look at you!” “Why should you look at the Shulammite, As at the dance of the two armies?

¹I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

²My soul will make its boast in the LORD; The humble will hear it and rejoice.

³Exalt the LORD with me, And let’s exalt His name together.

⁴I sought the LORD and He answered me, And rescued me from all my fears.

⁵They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.

⁶This wretched man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.

⁸Taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

⁹Fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no lack of anything.

¹⁰The young lions do without and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.

¹¹Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹²Who is the person who desires life And loves length of days, that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.

¹⁴Turn from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are toward their cry for help.

¹⁶The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To eliminate the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears And rescues them from all their troubles.

¹⁸The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹The afflictions of the righteous are many, But the LORD rescues him from them all.

²⁰He protects all his bones, Not one of them is broken.

²¹Evil will bring death to the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will suffer for their guilt.

²²The LORD redeems the souls of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will suffer for their guilt.

¹A person often rebuked who becomes obstinate Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king gives stability to the land by justice, But a person who takes bribes ruins it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.

⁶By wrongdoing an evil person is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; The wicked does not understand such concern.

⁸Arrogant people inflame a city, But wise people turn away anger.

⁹When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person, The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

¹⁰People of bloodshed hate the blameless person, But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A fool always loses his temper, But a wise person holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

¹³The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, wrongdoing increases; But the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

¹⁹A slave will not be instructed by words alone; For though he understands, there will be no response.

²⁰Do you see a person who is hasty with his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹One who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be rebellious.

²²An angry person stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.

²³A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴One who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, And one who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Then he made a bronze altar, twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and ten cubits in height.

²He also made the Sea of cast metal, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference thirty cubits.

³Now figures like oxen were under it and all around it, ten cubits, entirely encircling the Sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece.

⁴It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the Sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inward.

⁵It was a hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold three thousand baths.

⁶He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷Then he made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them, and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

⁸He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

⁹Then he made the courtyard of the priests and the great courtyard, and doors for the courtyard, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

¹⁰He put the Sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

¹¹Huram also made the pails, the shovels, and the bowls. So Huram finished the work that he did for King Solomon in the house of God:

¹²the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,

¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.

¹⁴He also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,

¹⁵and the one Sea with the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶The pails, the shovels, the forks, and all its utensils, Huram-abi made of polished bronze for King Solomon, for the house of the LORD.

¹⁷On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸So Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the tables with the bread of the Presence on them,

²⁰the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;

²¹the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, that is, of purest gold;

²²and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons, and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the house, that is, of the main room, of gold.

¹The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife inclined to infidelity, and children of infidelity; for the land commits flagrant infidelity, abandoning the LORD.”

³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer take pity on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

⁷But I will take pity on the house of Judah and save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

⁹And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, because you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

¹⁰Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or counted; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

¹¹And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For the day of Jezreel will be great.

¹Now Paul also came to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,

²and he was well spoken of by the brothers and sisters who were in Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted this man to leave with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.

⁶They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;

⁷and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;

⁸and passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

⁹And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹So after setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis;

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were spending some days in this city.

¹³And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

¹⁴A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of Thyatira, and a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

¹⁵Now when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave woman who had a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling.

¹⁷She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.”

¹⁸Now she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was suddenly gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities,

²⁰and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble,

²¹and they are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice, since we are Romans.”

²²The crowd joined in an attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

²³When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;

²⁴and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

²⁶and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

²⁹And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas;

³⁰and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house.

³³And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

³⁴And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and was overjoyed, since he had become a believer in God together with his whole household.

³⁵Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.”

³⁶And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word that you be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “After beating us in public without due process—men who are Romans—they threw us into prison; and now they are releasing us secretly? No indeed! On the contrary, let them come in person and lead us out.”

³⁸The officers reported these words to the chief magistrates. And they became fearful when they heard that they were Romans,

³⁹and they came and pleaded with them, and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰They left the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brothers and sisters, they encouraged them and departed.