Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

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

³But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

⁴how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

⁵Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

⁶Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

⁷But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

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

⁹Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.

¹⁰And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

¹¹Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

¹²Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

¹⁴Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

¹⁵But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

¹⁶Yet He warned them not to make Him known,

¹⁷that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

¹⁸“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.

¹⁹He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

²⁰A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory;

²¹And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

²²Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

²³And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

²⁵But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

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

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

²⁹Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

³⁰He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

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

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

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

³⁶But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

³⁷For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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

³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

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

⁴²The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

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

⁴⁵Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

⁴⁶While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.

⁴⁷Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

⁴⁸But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”

⁴⁹And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

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

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

²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;

³but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

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

⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave 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 coverings.

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

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

¹⁰So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

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

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

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

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

¹⁵And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.

¹⁹In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

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

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

²³therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

²For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

³And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

⁵But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.

⁶This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man,

⁷so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

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

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

¹⁰Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

¹¹lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

¹²Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,

¹³I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.

¹⁴Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

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

¹⁶To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

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

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

²with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

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

⁴The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

⁵And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

⁶I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

⁷But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? 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.

⁸The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

⁹“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

¹⁰There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.

¹¹The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.

¹²“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

¹³These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

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

¹⁵Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

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

¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

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

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

³Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands.

⁴Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees;

⁵But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled.

⁶Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope?

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

⁸Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.

⁹By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.

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

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

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

¹³In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.

¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.

¹⁶It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying:

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error,

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

²⁰They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding.

²¹Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. [1] I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.

²He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

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

⁴Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁵Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.

⁶Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

⁷Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

⁸I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”

⁹I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.

¹⁰I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly.

¹¹Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

¹²For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.

¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!

¹⁴Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil.

¹⁵Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

¹⁶Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!”

¹⁷But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

¹Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding;

²For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.

³When I was my father’s son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,

⁴He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live.

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

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.

⁷Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

⁸Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

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

¹¹I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths.

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble.

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

¹⁴Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil.

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

¹⁶For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.

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

¹⁸But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.

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

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

²¹Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

²²For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

²³Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

²⁴Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.

²⁶Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.

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

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

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

³Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴“Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

⁸But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

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

¹⁰Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’ ”

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

¹³Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders,

¹⁴and he 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 chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David!” So all Israel departed to their tents.

¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem.

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

¹“When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

²They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.

³They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.

⁴“They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.

⁵In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

⁶They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

⁷They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.

⁸“Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.

⁹Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek Him for all this.

¹¹“Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria.

¹²Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.

¹³“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴They did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. “They assemble together for grain and new wine, They rebel against Me;

¹⁵Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me;

¹⁶They return, but not to the Most High; They are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

¹“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.”

²And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said:

³“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.

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

⁵as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.

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

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

⁹“And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.

¹⁰So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’

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

¹²“Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there,

¹³came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.

¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.

¹⁵For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance

¹⁸and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’

¹⁹So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!”

²³Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.

²⁵And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”

²⁷Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.