Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

²Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

³Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”

⁴He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

⁷They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?”

⁸He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

⁹And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”

¹³Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them;

¹⁴but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

¹⁶Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁷And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;

¹⁹Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁰The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

²²When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

¹The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground.

²He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.”

³But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house;

⁵and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”

⁶Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him,

⁷and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

⁸Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

⁹But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

¹¹And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city — bring them out of the place.

¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.

¹⁷When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”

¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords;

¹⁹your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die.

²⁰Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there — is it not a little one? — and my life will be saved!”

²¹He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

²²Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

²⁵and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD;

²⁸and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

³⁰Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world.

³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”

³³So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

³⁴On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”

³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

³⁷The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

¹And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,

³for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

⁴For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.

⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.

⁹For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw —

¹³the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

¹⁴If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.

¹⁵If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

¹⁸Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

²⁰and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

²¹So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours,

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all belong to you,

²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness,

²in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began —

³in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior,

⁴To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we share: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

⁵I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you:

⁶someone who is blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious.

⁷For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain;

⁸but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled.

⁹He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

¹⁰There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision;

¹¹they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.

¹²It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.”

¹³That testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so that they may become sound in the faith,

¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish myths or to commandments of those who reject the truth.

¹⁵To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.

¹⁶They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

¹Then Job answered:

²“How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words?

³These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?

⁴And even if it is true that I have erred, my error remains with me.

⁵If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, and make my humiliation an argument against me,

⁶know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net around me.

⁷Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.

⁹He has stripped my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, he has uprooted my hope like a tree.

¹¹He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary.

¹²His troops come on together; they have thrown up siegeworks against me, and encamp around my tent.

¹³“He has put my family far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives and my close friends have failed me;

¹⁵the guests in my house have forgotten me; my serving girls count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes.

¹⁶I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must myself plead with him.

¹⁷My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family.

¹⁸Even young children despise me; when I rise, they talk against me.

¹⁹All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

²²Why do you, like God, pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh?

²³“O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!

²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

²⁶and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,

²⁷whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

²⁸If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him’;

²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”

¹The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

²Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

³There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

⁴yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,

⁵which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.

⁷The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple;

⁸the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes;

⁹the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

¹²But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.

¹³Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

¹Better the poor walking in integrity than one perverse of speech who is a fool.

²Desire without knowledge is not good, and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.

³One’s own folly leads to ruin, yet the heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth brings many friends, but the poor are left friendless.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and a liar will not escape.

⁶Many seek the favor of the generous, and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.

⁷If the poor are hated even by their kin, how much more are they shunned by their friends! When they call after them, they are not there.

⁸To get wisdom is to love oneself; to keep understanding is to prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and the liar will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s anger is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A stupid child is ruin to a father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep; an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶Those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.

¹⁸Discipline your children while there is hope; do not set your heart on their destruction.

¹⁹A violent tempered person will pay the penalty; if you effect a rescue, you will only have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.

²¹The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.

²²What is desirable in a person is loyalty, and it is better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.

²⁴The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and will not even bring it back to the mouth.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

²⁷Cease straying, my child, from the words of knowledge, in order that you may hear instruction.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and flogging for the backs of fools.

¹The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of Simeon, according to its families; its inheritance lay within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah.

²It had for its inheritance Beer-sheba, Sheba, Moladah,

³Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,

⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

⁵Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,

⁶Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen — thirteen towns with their villages;

⁷Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan — four towns with their villages;

⁸together with all the villages all around these towns as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negeb. This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its families.

⁹The inheritance of the tribe of Simeon formed part of the territory of Judah; because the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them, the tribe of Simeon obtained an inheritance within their inheritance.

¹⁰The third lot came up for the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families. The boundary of its inheritance reached as far as Sarid;

¹¹then its boundary goes up westward, and on to Maralah, and touches Dabbesheth, then the wadi that is east of Jokneam;

¹²from Sarid it goes in the other direction eastward toward the sunrise to the boundary of Chisloth-tabor; from there it goes to Daberath, then up to Japhia;

¹³from there it passes along on the east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and going on to Rimmon it bends toward Neah;

¹⁴then on the north the boundary makes a turn to Hannathon, and it ends at the valley of Iphtah-el;

¹⁵and Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem — twelve towns with their villages.

¹⁶This is the inheritance of the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families — these towns with their villages.

¹⁷The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the tribe of Issachar, according to its families.

¹⁸Its territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,

¹⁹Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,

²⁰Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

²¹Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, Beth-pazzez;

²²the boundary also touches Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and its boundary ends at the Jordan — sixteen towns with their villages.

²³This is the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, according to its families — the towns with their villages.

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher according to its families.

²⁵Its boundary included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

²⁶Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal; on the west it touches Carmel and Shihor-libnath,

²⁷then it turns eastward, goes to Beth-dagon, and touches Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it continues in the north to Cabul,

²⁸Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, as far as Great Sidon;

²⁹then the boundary turns to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre; then the boundary turns to Hosah, and it ends at the sea; Mahalab, Achzib,

³⁰Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob — twenty-two towns with their villages.

³¹This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to its families — these towns with their villages.

³²The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naphtali, for the tribe of Naphtali, according to its families.

³³And its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan;

³⁴then the boundary turns westward to Aznoth-tabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan.

³⁵The fortified towns are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,

³⁶Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

³⁷Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,

³⁸Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh — nineteen towns with their villages.

³⁹This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali according to its families — the towns with their villages.

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan, according to its families.

⁴¹The territory of its inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

⁴²Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,

⁴³Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

⁴⁴Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

⁴⁵Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,

⁴⁶Me-jarkon, and Rakkon at the border opposite Joppa.

⁴⁷When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword, they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after their ancestor Dan.

⁴⁸This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to their families — these towns with their villages.

⁴⁹When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the Israelites gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun.

⁵⁰By command of the LORD they gave him the town that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; he rebuilt the town, and settled in it.

⁵¹These are the inheritances that the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites distributed by lot at Shiloh before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

¹An oracle concerning Egypt. See, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

²I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, one against the other, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

³the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their plans; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;

⁴I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master; a fierce king will rule over them, says the Sovereign, the LORD of hosts.

⁵The waters of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry;

⁶its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.

⁷There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile; and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more.

⁸Those who fish will mourn; all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will languish.

⁹The workers in flax will be in despair, and the carders and those at the loom will grow pale.

¹⁰Its weavers will be dismayed, and all who work for wages will be grieved.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the sages, a descendant of ancient kings”?

¹²Where now are your sages? Let them tell you and make known what the LORD of hosts has planned against Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of its tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The LORD has poured into them a spirit of confusion; and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings as a drunkard staggers around in vomit.

¹⁵Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.

¹⁶On that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts raises against them.

¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the plan that the LORD of hosts is planning against them.

¹⁸On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.

²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them.

²¹The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the LORD on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them.

²²The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their supplications and heal them.

²³On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

²⁵whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.”

¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied —

⁷altogether there were about twelve of them.

⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

¹²so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

¹⁸Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.

¹⁹A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.

²⁰So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”

²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.

²⁴A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.

²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.

³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;

³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?

³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.

³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.