Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On that day Jesus had gone out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

²And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

⁴and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

⁵Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil.

⁶But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Others fellamong the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

⁸But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.

⁹The one who has ears,let him hear.”

¹⁰And the disciples came up and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹And Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

¹²For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

¹⁴Andin their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘ YOU SHALL KEEP ON LISTENING, BUT SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU SHALL KEEP ON LOOKING, BUT SHALL NOT PERCEIVE;

¹⁵FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

¹⁷For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸“Listen then to the parable of the sower.

¹⁹When anyone hears theword of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road.

²⁰The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

²¹yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of theword, immediately hefalls away.

²²And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of theworld and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and itbecomes unfruitful.

²³But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.”

²⁴Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heavenis like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowedweeds among the wheat, and left.

²⁶And when thewheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident.

²⁷And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?How then does it have weeds?’

²⁸And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

²⁹But he *said, ‘No; while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.

³⁰Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

³¹He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a person took and sowed in his field;

³²and this is smaller than all the other seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE SKY come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”

³³He spoke another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is likeleaven, which a woman took and hid in threesata of flour until it was all leavened.”

³⁴All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak anything to them without a parable.

³⁵This was so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL PROCLAIM THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”

³⁶Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

³⁷And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one;

³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is theend of the age; and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at theend of the age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdomall stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH LIKE THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears,let him hear.

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind;

⁴⁸and when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

⁴⁹So it will be at theend of the age: the angels will come forth and remove the wicked from among the righteous,

⁵⁰and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.”

⁵²And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure new things and old.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.

⁵⁴And He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, with the result that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man acquire this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

⁵⁵Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is His mother not called Mary, and His brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man acquire all these things?”

⁵⁷And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in hishometown and in his own household.”

⁵⁸And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

¹Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a male child with the help of the LORD.”

²And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground.

³So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

⁴Abel, on his part also brought an offering, from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering;

⁵but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his face was gloomy.

⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy?

⁷If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

⁸Cain talked to his brother Abel; and it happened that when they were in the field Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

¹¹Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹²When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is too great to endure!

¹⁴Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and I will be hidden from Your face, and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵So the LORD said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him seven times as much.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would kill him.

¹⁶Then Cain left the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city, and named the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

¹⁸Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech took two wives for himself: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.

²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and flute.

²²As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Pay attention to my words, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me!

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times, Then Lamech seventy-seven times!”

²⁵Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another child in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”

²⁶To Seth also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

²You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people,

³revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴Such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ.

⁵Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

⁶who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness excel in glory.

¹⁰For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it.

¹¹For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

¹²Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

¹³and we are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away.

¹⁴But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

¹⁵But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts;

¹⁶but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

¹⁸But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

¹After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated from his glory.

²And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.

³For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the excessive wealth of her luxury.”

⁴I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues;

⁵for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her offenses.

⁶Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

⁷To the extent that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, to the same extent give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’

⁸For this reason in one day her plagues will come, plague and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

⁹“And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of sexual immorality and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

¹⁰standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’

¹¹“And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more—

¹²cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; every kind of citron wood, every article of ivory, and every article made from very valuable wood, bronze, iron, and marble;

¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, and cargo of horses, carriages, slaves, and human lives.

¹⁴The fruit you long for has left you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and people will no longer find them.

¹⁵The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

¹⁶saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls;

¹⁷for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and all who make their living by the sea, stood at a distance,

¹⁸and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’

¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich from her prosperity, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”

²¹Then a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again.

²²And the sound of harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; and no craftsman of any craft will ever be found in you again; and the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;

²³and the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of the groom and bride will never be heard in you again; for your merchants were the powerful people of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your witchcraft.

²⁴And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”

¹“Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For irritation kills the fool, And jealousy brings death to the simple.

³I have seen the fool taking root, And I cursed his home immediately.

⁴His sons are far from safety, They are also oppressed at the gate, And there is no one to save them.

⁵The hungry devour his harvest And take it to a place of thorns, And the schemer is eager for their wealth.

⁶For disaster does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

⁷For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.

⁸“But as for me, I would seek God, And I would make my plea before God,

⁹Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number.

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth, And sends water on the fields,

¹¹So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success.

¹³He captures the wise by their own cleverness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.

¹⁴By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night.

¹⁵But He saves from the sword of their mouth, And the poor from the hand of the strong.

¹⁶So the helpless has hope, And injustice has shut its mouth.

¹⁷“Behold, happy is the person whom God disciplines, So do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.

¹⁹In six troubles He will save you; Even in seven, evil will not touch you.

²⁰In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.

²²You will laugh at violence and hunger, And you will not be afraid of wild animals.

²³For you will be in league with the stones of the field, And the animals of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your home and have nothing missing.

²⁵You will also know that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave at a ripe age, Like the stacking of grain in its season.

²⁷Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”

¹Blessed is one who considers the helpless; The LORD will save him on a day of trouble.

²The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, And he will be called blessed upon the earth; And do not turn him over to the desire of his enemies.

³The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health.

⁴As for me, I said, “LORD, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

⁵My enemies speak evil against me, “When will he die, and his name perish?”

⁶And when he comes to see me, he speaks empty words; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.

⁷All who hate me whisper together against me; They plot my harm against me, saying,

⁸“A wicked thing is poured out upon him, So that when he lies down, he will not get up again.”

⁹Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰But You, LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, That I may repay them.

¹¹By this I know that You are pleased with me, Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

¹²As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You place me in Your presence forever.

¹³Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,

²So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol.

⁶She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,

⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength, And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹And you will groan in the end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹²And you say, “How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

¹⁴I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?

²¹For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD, And He observes all his paths.

²²His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked, And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

²³He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.

¹Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

²But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

³“Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

⁴‘This is what the LORD says: “You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives; return, every man, to his house, for this event is from Me.” ’ ” So they listened to the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah.

⁶He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

⁷Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

¹¹He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and supplies of food, oil, and wine.

¹²He put shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel also stood with him from all their districts.

¹⁴For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the LORD.

¹⁵He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and the calves which he had made.

¹⁶Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers.

¹⁷They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

¹⁸Then Rehoboam married Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse,

¹⁹and she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

²⁰After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as head and leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.

²³He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them plenty of provisions. And he sought many wives for them.

¹Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD, Because they have violated My covenant And rebelled against My Law.

²They cry out to Me, “My God, we of Israel know You!”

³Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.

⁴They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed officials, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, So that they will be eliminated.

⁵He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁶For from Israel comes even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

⁷For they sow wind And they harvest a storm. The standing grain has no kernels; It yields no grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

⁸Israel has been swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.

¹⁰Even though they pay for allies among the nations, I will gather them up now; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of officials.

¹¹Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him.

¹²Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

¹³As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their guilt, And punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

¹Now looking intently at the Council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with an entirely good conscience before God up to this day.”

²But the high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law, order me to be struck?”

⁴But those present said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’ ”

⁶But Paul, perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

⁷When he said this, a dissension occurred between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁹And a great uproar occurred; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and started arguing heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹But on the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, “Be courageous! For as you have testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also.”

¹²When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and put themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot.

¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have put ourselves under an oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly; and as for us, we are ready to kill him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul’s sister heard about their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions to himself and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him and led him to the commander and *said, “Paul the prisoner called me over to him and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took him by the hand, and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

²¹So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are in hiding to ambush him, and these men have put themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they kill him; and now they are ready and waiting for assurance from you.”

²²Then the commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

²³And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.”

²⁴They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor.

²⁵And he wrote a letter with the following content:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷When this man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, after learning that he was a Roman.

²⁸And wanting to ascertain the basis for the charges they were bringing against him, I brought him down to their Council;

²⁹and I found that he was being accused regarding questions in their Law, but was not charged with anything deserving death or imprisonment.

³⁰When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.”

³¹So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²But on the next day they let the horsemen go on with him, and they returned to the barracks.

³³When these horsemen had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴Now when he had read it, he also asked from what province Paul was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive as well,” giving orders for Paul to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.