Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²He called a child and had him stand among them.

³“Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.

⁶“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.

⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

⁹And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire.

¹⁰“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.

¹¹

¹²What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray?

¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

¹⁴In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

¹⁶But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.

¹⁷If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?”

²²“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.

²³“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

²⁴When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.

²⁵Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

²⁶“At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything’

²⁷Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

²⁸“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

²⁹“At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

³⁰But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

³¹When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.

³²Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

³³Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

³⁴And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.

³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

¹The LORD appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.

²He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground,

³and said, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant.

⁴Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.” “Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.”

⁷Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.

⁸Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.

⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he answered.

¹⁰The LORD said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

¹¹Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹²So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?”

¹³But the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’

¹⁴Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”

¹⁵Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid. But he replied, “No, you did laugh.”

¹⁶The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.

¹⁷Then the LORD said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?

¹⁸Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.”

²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.

²¹I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out.”

²²The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it?

²⁵You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?”

²⁶The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord — even though I am dust and ashes —

²⁸suppose the fifty righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹Then he spoke to him again, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it on account of forty.”

³⁰Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of twenty.”

³²Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there?” He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of ten.”

³³When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

¹When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.

²I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

³I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

⁴My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

⁵so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.

⁶We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

⁷On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.

⁸None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

⁹But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived — God has prepared these things for those who love him.

¹⁰Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

¹³We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

¹⁴But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

¹⁵The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.

¹⁶For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:

²Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.

³For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.

⁴They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

⁵But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

⁶For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

⁸There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

⁹Make every effort to come to me soon,

¹⁰because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry.

¹²I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

¹³When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with Carpus, as well as the scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works.

¹⁵Watch out for him yourself because he strongly opposed our words.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.

²⁰Erastus has remained at Corinth; I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.

²¹Make every effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers and sisters.

²²The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long until you stop talking? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

³Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in anger  — should the earth be abandoned on your account, or a rock be removed from its place?

⁵Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him is put out.

⁷His powerful stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.

⁸For his own feet lead him into a net, and he strays into its mesh.

⁹A trap catches him by the heel; a noose seizes him.

¹⁰A rope lies hidden for him on the ground, and a snare waits for him along the path.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side and harass him at every step.

¹²His strength is depleted; disaster lies ready for him to stumble.

¹³Parts of his skin are eaten away; death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.

¹⁴He is ripped from the security of his tent and marched away to the king of terrors.

¹⁵Nothing he owned remains in his tent. Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.

¹⁶His roots below dry up, and his branches above wither away.

¹⁷All memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name anywhere.

¹⁸He is driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁹He has no children or descendants among his people, no survivor where he used to live.

²⁰Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.

²¹Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man, and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁴⁵Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their fortifications.

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

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

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

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

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

¹One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.

²A fool does not delight in understanding, but only wants to show off his opinions.

³When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes, and along with dishonor, derision.

⁴The words of a person’s mouth are deep waters, a flowing river, a fountain of wisdom.

⁵It is not good to show partiality to the guilty, denying an innocent person justice.

⁶A fool’s lips lead to strife, and his mouth provokes a beating.

⁷A fool’s mouth is his devastation, and his lips are a trap for his life.

⁸A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being.

⁹The one who is lazy in his work is brother to a vandal.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.

¹¹The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; in his imagination it is like a high wall.

¹²Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

¹³The one who gives an answer before he listens — this is foolishness and disgrace for him.

¹⁴A person’s spirit can endure sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?

¹⁵The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it.

¹⁶A person’s gift opens doors for him and brings him before the great.

¹⁷The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

¹⁸Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates powerful opponents.

¹⁹An offended brother is harder to reach than a fortified city, and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.

²⁰From the fruit of a person’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is filled with the product of his lips.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

²³The poor person pleads, but the rich one answers roughly.

²⁴One with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

¹The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land had been subdued before them,

²but seven tribes among the Israelites were left who had not divided up their inheritance.

³So Joshua asked the Israelites, “How long will you delay going out to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, gave you?

⁴Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me.

⁵Then they are to divide it into seven portions. Judah is to remain in its territory in the south and Joseph’s family in their territory in the north.

⁶When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the LORD our God.

⁷But the Levites among you do not get a portion, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD. Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses the LORD’s servant gave them.”

⁸As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them to write down a description of the land, saying, “Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the LORD.”

⁹So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.

¹⁰Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.

¹¹The lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans, and their allotted territory lay between Judah’s descendants and Joseph’s descendants.

¹²Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, ascended to the slope of Jericho on the north, through the hill country westward, and ended at the wilderness around Beth-aven.

¹³From there the border went toward Luz, to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel); it then went down by Ataroth-addar, over the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.

¹⁴On the west side, from the hill facing Beth-horon on the south, the border curved, turning southward, and ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the descendants of Judah. This was the west side of their border.

¹⁵The south side began at the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border extended westward; it went to the spring at the Waters of Nephtoah.

¹⁶The border descended to the foot of the hill that faces Ben Hinnom Valley at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. It ran down Hinnom Valley toward the south Jebusite slope and downward to En-rogel.

¹⁷It curved northward and went to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and continued down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.

¹⁸Then it went north to the slope opposite the Arabah and proceeded into the plains.

¹⁹The border continued to the north slope of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.

²⁰The Jordan formed the border on the east side. This was the inheritance of Benjamin’s descendants, by their clans, according to its surrounding borders.

²¹These were the cities of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,

²²Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

²³Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

²⁴Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba — twelve cities, with their settlements;

²⁵Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

²⁶Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,

²⁷Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

²⁸Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath  — fourteen cities, with their settlements. This was the inheritance for Benjamin’s descendants by their clans.

¹Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush,

²which sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!

⁴For the LORD said to me: I will quietly look out from my place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.

⁶They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, and all the wild animals the winter.

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of Armies from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers — to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of Armies.

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.