Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

²Now when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!”

³But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions—

⁴how he entered the house of God, and they ate theconsecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

⁵Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the templeviolate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent?

⁶But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

⁷But if you had known what thismeans: ‘I DESIRECOMPASSION,RATHER THAN SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemnedthe innocent.

⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹Departing from there, He went into their synagogue.

¹⁰And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might bring charges against Him.

¹¹But He said to them, “What manis there among you whohas a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

¹²How much more valuable then is a person than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to dogood on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

¹⁵But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all,

¹⁶and warned them not to tell who He was.

¹⁷This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled:

¹⁸“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL DELIGHTS; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE WILL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.

¹⁹HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.

²⁰A BENT REED HE WILL NOT BREAK off, AND A DIMLY BURNING WICK HE WILL NOT EXTINGUISH, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY.

²¹AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

²²Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to Jesus, and He healed him so that the man who was unable to speak talked and could see.

²³And all the crowds were amazed and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

²⁵And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

²⁶And if Satan is casting out Satan, hehas become divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

²⁷And if byBeelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

²⁸But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹Or, how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

³⁰The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

³¹“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

³²And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³“Either assume the tree to be good as well as its fruit good, or assume the tree to be bad as well as its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴Youoffspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, express any good things? For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.

³⁵The good person brings out of his good treasure good things; and the evil person brings out of his evil treasure evil things.

³⁶But I tell you that for everycareless word that peoplespeak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment.

³⁷Forby your words you will be justified, andby your words you will be condemned.”

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves asign; and so nosign will be given to it except thesign of Jonah the prophet;

⁴⁰for just as JONAH WAS IN THE STOMACH OF THE SEA MONSTER FOR THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

⁴²The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.

⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.

⁴⁵Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

⁴⁶While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.

⁴⁷[Someone said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You.”]

⁴⁸But Jesus replied to the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?”

⁴⁹And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers!

⁵⁰For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

¹Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!

⁵For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.

⁸Now they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;

¹⁵And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;

¹⁹By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰Now the man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

²³therefore the LORD God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹But I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.

²For if I cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

³This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all.

⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

⁵But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—not to say too much—for all of you.

⁶Sufficient for such a person is this punishment which was imposed by the majority,

⁷so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹For to this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

¹⁰But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

¹¹so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,

¹³I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but saying goodbye to them, I went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.

¹⁵For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:

¹⁶to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

¹⁷For we are not like the many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

¹Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

²with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of sexual immorality, and those who live on the earth became drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

³And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

⁴The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, holding in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her sexual immorality,

⁵and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

⁶And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.

⁷And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

⁸“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who live on the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was, and is not, and will come.

⁹Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sits,

¹⁰and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.

¹¹The beast which was, and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.

¹²The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

¹³These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

¹⁴These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

¹⁵And he *said to me, “The waters which you saw where the prostitute sits are peoples and multitudes, and nations and languages.

¹⁶And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

¹⁷For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

¹⁸The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?

³Behold, you have taught many, And you have strengthened weak hands.

⁴Your words have helped the stumbling to stand, And you have strengthened feeble knees.

⁵But now it comes to you, and you are impatient; It touches you, and you are horrified.

⁶Is your fear of God not your confidence, And the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed?

⁸According to what I have seen, those who plow wrongdoing And those who sow trouble harvest it.

⁹By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.

¹⁰The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken out.

¹¹The lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“Now a word was brought to me secretly, And my ear received a whisper of it.

¹³Amid disquieting thoughts from visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on people,

¹⁴Dread came upon me, and trembling, And made all my bones shake.

¹⁵Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.

¹⁶Something was standing still, but I could not recognize its appearance; A form was before my eyes; There was silence, then I heard a voice:

¹⁷‘Can mankind be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

¹⁸He puts no trust even in His servants; And He accuses His angels of error.

¹⁹How much more those who live in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!

²⁰Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unregarded, they perish forever.

²¹Is their tent-cord not pulled out within them? They die, yet without wisdom.’

¹I waited patiently for the LORD; And He reached down to me and heard my cry.

²He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud; And He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.

³He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.

⁴How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who become involved in falsehood.

⁵Many, LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is no one to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

⁶You have not desired sacrifice and meal offering; You have opened my ears; You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.

⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come; It is written of me in the scroll of the book.

⁸I delight to do Your will, my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹I have proclaimed good news of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, LORD, You know.

¹⁰I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your mercy and Your truth from the great congregation.

¹¹You, LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.

¹²For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My guilty deeds have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.

¹³Be pleased, LORD, to rescue me; Hurry, LORD, to help me.

¹⁴May those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it; May those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt.

¹⁵May those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

¹⁶May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; May those who love Your salvation continually say, “The LORD be exalted!”

¹⁷But I am afflicted and needy; May the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my savior; Do not delay, my God.

¹Listen, my sons, to the instruction of a father, And pay attention so that you may gain understanding,

²For I give you good teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

³When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

⁴He taught me and said to me, “Let your heart take hold of my words; Keep my commandments and live;

⁵Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not abandon her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your possessions, acquire understanding.

⁸Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

¹⁰Listen, my son, and accept my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

¹¹I have instructed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths.

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; And if you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil people.

¹⁵Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.

¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.

²⁰My son, pay attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹They are not to escape from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, And healing to all their body.

²³Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

²⁴Rid yourself of a deceitful mouth And keep devious speech far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

²⁶Watch the path of your feet, And all your ways will be established.

²⁷Do not turn to the right or to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

¹Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it (he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

³So they sent word and summoned him. When Jeroboam and all Israel came, they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴“Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵He said to them, “Return to me again in three days.” So the people departed.

⁶And then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

⁷They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to this people and please them and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always.”

⁸But he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him.

⁹He said to them, “What advice do you give, so that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “This is what you should say to the people who spoke to you, saying: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us!’ You should speak this way to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹Now then, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke; yet I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had directed, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”

¹³The king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam ignored the advice of the elders.

¹⁴He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of events from God so that the LORD might establish His word, which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So all Israel went away to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

¹When I would heal Israel, The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they practice deception; The thief enters, A band of robbers attack outside,

²And they do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them; They are before My face.

³With their wickedness they make the king happy, And the officials with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker, Who stops stoking the fire From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king, the officials became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers,

⁶For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

⁸Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.

⁹Strangers devour his strength, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, Yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, Nor have they sought Him, despite all this.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

¹²When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will discipline them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me! I would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴And they do not cry to Me from their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn against Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not upward, They are like a loose bow; Their officials will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

¹“Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

⁵as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,

⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

⁸And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹And those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’

¹¹But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹²“Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up at him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a message from His mouth.

¹⁵For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’

¹⁷“It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’

²¹And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a man from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”

²³And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that he be brought into the barracks, saying that he was to be interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

²⁵But when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.”

²⁷The commander came and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”

²⁹Therefore, those who were about to interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

³⁰Now on the next day, wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.