Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town.

²And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

³Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”

⁴But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

⁵For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he then said to the paralytic — “Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.”

⁷And he stood up and went to his home.

⁸When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

¹⁰And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.

¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

¹⁴Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made.

¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

¹⁸While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples.

²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak,

²¹for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”

²²Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,

²⁴he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.

²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

²⁶And the report of this spread throughout that district.

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²⁸When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you.”

³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.”

³¹But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.

³²After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him.

³³And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.”

³⁴But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.

³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

¹Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan,

²all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,

³the Negeb, and the Plain — that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees — as far as Zoar.

⁴The LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

⁵Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the LORD’s command.

⁶He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.

⁷Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.

⁸The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.

⁹Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁰Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

¹¹He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land,

¹²and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,

²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you — unless you have come to believe in vain.

³For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,

⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them — though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;

¹⁴and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.

¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ — whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.

¹⁷If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.

¹⁹If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

²¹For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;

²²for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

²⁴Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.

²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

²⁷For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him.

²⁸When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

³⁰And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour?

³¹I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you — a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord.

³²If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

³⁴Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”

³⁶Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

³⁷And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

³⁸But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

³⁹Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

⁴⁰There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.

⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

⁴²So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

⁴³It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

⁴⁴It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

⁴⁸As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

⁴⁹Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

⁵⁰What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

⁵¹Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,

⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

⁵³For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

⁵⁴When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

¹Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,

³and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth.

⁴It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,

⁵and in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless.

⁶Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation and tribe and language and people.

⁷He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

⁹Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands,

¹⁰they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

¹²Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

¹⁴Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand!

¹⁵Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

¹⁶So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles.

¹There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

³He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

⁴His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

⁵And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.

⁶One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

⁷The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

⁸The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”

⁹Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

¹⁰Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

¹¹But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

¹²The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

¹³One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house,

¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,

¹⁵and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,

¹⁹and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

²⁰Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped.

²¹He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

²²In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

¹Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers,

²for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.

³Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.

⁴Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

⁶He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

⁷Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.

⁸Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret — it leads only to evil.

⁹For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

¹⁰Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.

¹¹But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

¹²The wicked plot against the righteous, and gnash their teeth at them;

¹³but the LORD laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly;

¹⁵their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

¹⁶Better is a little that the righteous person has than the abundance of many wicked.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide forever;

¹⁹they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance.

²⁰But the wicked perish, and the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.

²¹The wicked borrow, and do not pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep giving;

²²for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

²³Our steps are made firm by the LORD, when he delights in our way;

²⁴though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the LORD holds us by the hand.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

²⁶They are ever giving liberally and lending, and their children become a blessing.

²⁷Depart from evil, and do good; so you shall abide forever.

²⁸For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones. The righteous shall be kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever.

³⁰The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak justice.

³¹The law of their God is in their hearts; their steps do not slip.

³²The wicked watch for the righteous, and seek to kill them.

³³The LORD will not abandon them to their power, or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial.

³⁴Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.

³⁵I have seen the wicked oppressing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.

³⁶Again I passed by, and they were no more; though I sought them, they could not be found.

³⁷Mark the blameless, and behold the upright, for there is posterity for the peaceable.

³⁸But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

⁴⁰The LORD helps them and rescues them; he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

²For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight,

³for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young —

⁵let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill,

⁶to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching;

⁹for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

¹⁰My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent;

¹²like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty.

¹⁴Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” —

¹⁵my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths;

¹⁶for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on;

¹⁸yet they lie in wait — to kill themselves! and set an ambush — for their own lives!

¹⁹Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.

²¹At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

²³Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,

²⁵and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you,

²⁷when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

³⁰would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof,

³¹therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices.

³²For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

³³but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”

¹When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

²The priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house.

³When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD.

⁵King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD — for his steadfast love endures forever — whenever David offered praises by their ministry. Opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel stood.

⁷Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the offerings of well-being because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat parts.

⁸At that time Solomon held the festival for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.

⁹On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the festival seven days.

¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and in good spirits because of the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.

¹²Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

¹³When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,

¹⁴if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

¹⁷As for you, if you walk before me, as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,

¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne, as I made covenant with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’

¹⁹“But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

²⁰then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

²¹And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?’

²²Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’”

¹Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel; for the LORD has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.

²Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing.

⁴Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.

⁵You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

⁷The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they changed their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.

⁹And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply; because they have forsaken the LORD to devote themselves to

¹¹whoredom. The Idolatry of Israel Wine and new wine take away the understanding.

¹²My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God.

¹³They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with whores, and sacrifice with temple prostitutes; thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.

¹⁵Though you play the whore, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty. Do not enter into Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, “As the LORD lives.”

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols — let him alone.

¹⁸When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies; they love lewdness more than their glory.

¹⁹A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied —

⁷altogether there were about twelve of them.

⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

¹²so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

¹⁸Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.

¹⁹A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.

²⁰So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”

²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.

²⁴A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.

²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.

³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;

³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?

³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.

³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.