Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

²When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples

³to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:

⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

⁶Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

⁷As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

⁸If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.

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

¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.

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

¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

¹⁵Whoever has ears, let them hear.

¹⁶“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

¹⁷“ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

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, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

²⁰Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

²²But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

²³And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

²⁴But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

²⁶Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²⁷“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all you 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 find rest for your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

²By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

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

⁵Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,

⁶but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

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

⁸Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

⁹The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)

¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;

¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

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

¹⁹Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

²⁰So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.

²²Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

²⁴That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

²⁵Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

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

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

⁵For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

⁸We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.

⁹Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

¹⁰He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

¹¹as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

¹²Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.

¹³For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that,

¹⁴as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice.

¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

¹⁸But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”

²⁰For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

²¹Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,

²²set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

²³I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

²⁴Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

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

²The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

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

⁴The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

⁵Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were;

⁶for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

⁷And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”

⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.

⁹They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony

¹¹and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

¹²The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.

¹³Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

¹⁴They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

¹⁶Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

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

¹⁸Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

¹⁹The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.

²⁰Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.

²¹From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²He said:

³“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’

⁴That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.

⁵May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

⁶That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

⁷May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

⁸May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,

¹⁰for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

¹⁵with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.

²⁰“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²⁴For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.

²⁵What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

¹For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.”

²So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased;

³my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.

⁵You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.

⁶“Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.

⁷“But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

⁸Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools.

⁹I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.

¹⁰Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

¹¹When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth— surely everyone is but a breath.

¹²“Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.

¹³Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again before I depart and am no more.”

¹My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,

²for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

³Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.

⁸This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,

¹²because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

¹³Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare 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; those who hold her fast will be blessed.

¹⁹By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;

²⁰by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion;

²²they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

²³Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.

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

²⁵Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

²⁶for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

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

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.

²⁹Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you.

³⁰Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways.

³²For the LORD detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence.

³³The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

³⁴He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

³⁵The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame.

¹When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind.

²Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.

³When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built,

⁴the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.

⁵She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.

⁶But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.

⁷How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

⁸Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the LORD your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.”

⁹Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰(The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir; they also brought algumwood and precious stones.

¹¹The king used the algumwood to make steps for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah.)

¹²King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

¹³The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,

¹⁴not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders. Also all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the territories brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield.

¹⁶He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three hundred shekels of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with pure gold.

¹⁸The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

¹⁹Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.

²⁰All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s day.

²¹The king had a fleet of trading ships manned by Hiram’s servants. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

²²King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

²³All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

²⁴Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, and robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

²⁵Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

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

²⁷The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.

²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from all other countries.

²⁹As for the other events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, 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 son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

¹“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

²After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

³Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

⁴“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.

⁵Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth— then my judgments go forth like the sun.

⁶For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.

⁸Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood.

⁹As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.

¹⁰I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: There Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled.

¹¹“Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed. “Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

²We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.

³After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

⁶After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

⁷We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

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

¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.

¹⁷When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

²¹They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

²²What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,

²³so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

²⁹(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

³⁰The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.

³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.

³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”

³⁹Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: