Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

²Now while in prison, John heard about the works of Christ, and he sent word by his disciples,

³and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for someone else?”

⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

⁵those who are BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the POOR HAVE THEGOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.

⁶And blessed isany person who does nottake offense at Me.”

⁷As these disciples of John were going away, Jesus began speaking to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

⁸But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’palaces!

⁹But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.

¹⁰This is the one about whom itis written: ‘BEHOLD, I AM SENDING MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’

¹¹Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹²And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force.

¹³For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.

¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah whowas to come.

¹⁵The one who has ears to hear,let him hear.

¹⁶“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children,

¹⁷and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did notmourn.’

¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and aheavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors andsinners!’ And yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁰Then He began to reprimand the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if themiracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago insackcloth and ashes.

²²Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

²³And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! For if themiracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

²⁴Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment, than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants.

²⁶Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight.

²⁷All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.

²⁸“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FINDREST FOR YOUR SOULS.

³⁰For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”

¹And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights.

²By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.

⁵Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

⁶But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

⁷Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person.

⁸The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

⁹Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.

¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there as well.

¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.

¹⁶The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;

¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

²²And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

²³Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.”

²⁴For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

⁴who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

⁶But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

⁷and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also you are in our comfort.

⁸For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

¹⁰who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

¹¹if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.

¹²For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

¹³For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;

¹⁴just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;

¹⁶that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea.

¹⁷Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I decide, do I decide according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?

¹⁸But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

¹⁹For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but has been yes in Him.

²⁰For as many as the promises of God are, in Him they are yes; therefore through Him also is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

²¹Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

²²who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

²³But I call God as witness to my soul, that it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth.

²⁴Not that we domineer over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

²So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and a harmful and painful sore afflicted the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

³The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood.

⁵And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, the One who is and who was, O Holy One, because You judged these things;

⁶for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.”

⁷And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

⁸And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given power to scorch people with fire.

⁹And the people were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

¹⁰And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain,

¹¹and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

¹²The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.

¹³And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;

¹⁴for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the entire world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

¹⁵(“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and people will not see his shame.”)

¹⁶And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

¹⁷Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”

¹⁸And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since mankind came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.

¹⁹The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.

²⁰And every island fled, and no mountains were found.

²¹And huge hailstones, weighing about a talent each, *came down from heaven upon people; and people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the hailstone plague *was extremely severe.

¹Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²And Job said,

³“May the day on which I was to be born perish, As well as the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

⁴May that day be darkness; May God above not care for it, Nor light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and black gloom claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.

⁶As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year; May it not come into the number of the months.

⁷Behold, may that night be barren; May no joyful shout enter it.

⁸May those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to disturb Leviathan.

⁹May the stars of its twilight be darkened; May it wait for light but have none, And may it not see the breaking dawn;

¹⁰Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not die at birth, Come out of the womb and pass away?

¹²Why were the knees there in front of me, And why the breasts, that I would nurse?

¹³For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,

¹⁴With kings and counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves;

¹⁵Or with rulers who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or like a miscarriage which is hidden, I would not exist, As infants that never saw light.

¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.

²⁰“Why is light given to one burdened with grief, And life to the bitter of soul,

²¹Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures;

²²Who are filled with jubilation, And rejoice when they find the grave?

²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has shut off?

²⁴For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water.

²⁵For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread encounters me.

²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”

¹I said, “I will keep watch over my ways So that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep watch over my mouth as with a muzzle While the wicked are in my presence.”

²I was mute and silent, I refused to say even something good, And my pain was stirred up.

³My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“LORD, let me know my end, And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.

⁵Behold, You have made my days like hand widths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Certainly all mankind standing is a mere breath. Selah

⁶Certainly every person walks around as a fleeting shadow; They certainly make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.

⁷“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

⁸Save me from all my wrongdoings; Do not make me an object of reproach for the foolish.

⁹I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it.

¹⁰Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.

¹¹With rebukes You punish a person for wrongdoing; You consume like a moth what is precious to him; Certainly all mankind is mere breath! Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry for help; Do not be silent to my tears; For I am a stranger with You, One who lives abroad, like all my fathers.

¹³Turn Your eyes away from me, that I may become cheerful again Before I depart and am no more.”

¹My son, do not forget my teaching, But have your heart comply with my commandments;

²For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.

³Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will find favor and a good reputation In the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

⁸It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce;

¹⁰Then your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His rebuke,

¹²For whom the LORD loves He disciplines, Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

¹³Blessed is a person who finds wisdom, And one who obtains understanding.

¹⁴For her profit is better than the profit of silver, And her produce better than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than jewels, And nothing you desire compares with her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant ways, And all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are those who hold on to her.

¹⁹The LORD founded the earth by wisdom, He established the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By His knowledge the ocean depths were burst open, And the clouds drip with dew.

²¹My son, see that they do not escape from your sight; Comply with sound wisdom and discretion,

²²And they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck.

²³Then you will walk in your way securely, And your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden danger, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;

²⁶For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it to you,” When you have it with you.

²⁹Do not devise harm against your neighbor, While he lives securely beside you.

³⁰Do not contend with a person for no reason, If he has done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy a violent person, And do not choose any of his ways.

³²For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright.

³³The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the righteous.

³⁴Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the needy.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, But fools increase dishonor.

¹Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very large entourage, with camels carrying balsam oil and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her heart.

²Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not explain to her.

³When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built,

⁴the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, she was breathless.

⁵Then she said to the king, “It was a true story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

⁶But I did not believe their stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, not even half of the greatness of your wisdom was reported to me. You have surpassed the report that I heard.

⁷How blessed are your men, how blessed are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!

⁸Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the LORD your God; because your God loved Israel, establishing them forever, He made you king over them, to carry out justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold and a very great amount of balsam oil and precious stones; there had never been balsam oil like that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹⁰The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹From the algum trees the king made steps to the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and nothing like them was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she requested, besides gifts equal to what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land with her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁴besides what the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, using six hundred shekels of beaten gold on each large shield.

¹⁶He made three hundred shields of beaten gold, using three hundred shekels of gold on each shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

¹⁸There were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms.

¹⁹Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

²⁰All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

²¹For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²²So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.

²³And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

²⁴They were bringing, each of them his gift: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, balsam oil, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁵Now Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

²⁶He was ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.

²⁷And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

²⁸And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

³¹And Solomon lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

¹“Come, let’s return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

²He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

³So let’s learn, let’s press on to know the LORD. His appearance is as sure as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, As the spring rain waters the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud, And like the dew which goes away early.

⁵Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that shines.

⁶For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam they have violated the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously with Me.

⁸Gilead is a city of wrongdoers, Tracked with bloody footprints.

⁹And as a band of robbers lie in wait for a person, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Certainly they have committed an act of infamy.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.

¹¹Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.

¹Now when we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara;

²and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴After looking up the disciples, we stayed there for seven days; and they kept telling Paul, through the Spirit, not to set foot in Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another.

⁶Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brothers and sisters, we stayed with them for a day.

⁸On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.

¹⁰As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹And he came to us and took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we became quiet, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”

¹⁵After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us gladly.

¹⁸And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard about them, they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;

²¹and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

²²So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³Therefore, do as we tell you: we have four men who have a vow upon themselves;

²⁴take them along and purify yourself together with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also conform, keeping the Law.

²⁵But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we sent a letter, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took along the men, and the next day, after purifying himself together with them, he went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰Then the whole city was provoked and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

³²He immediately took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done.

³⁴But among the crowd, some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;

³⁶for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?

³⁸Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,