Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

²When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands?

³Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him.

⁴Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”

⁵He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief. He was going around the villages teaching.

⁷He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

⁸He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff — no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts,

⁹but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt.

¹⁰He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.

¹¹If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they went out and preached that people should repent.

¹³They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard about it, because Jesus’s name had become well known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵But others said, “He’s Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet, like one of the prophets from long ago.”

¹⁶When Herod heard of it, he said, “John, the one I beheaded, has been raised!”

¹⁷For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her.

¹⁸John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not,

²⁰because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹An opportune time came on his birthday, when Herod gave a banquet for his nobles, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.

²²When Herodias’s own daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.”

²³He promised her with an oath: “Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” “John the Baptist’s head,” she said.

²⁵At once she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter immediately.”

²⁶Although the king was deeply distressed, because of his oaths and the guests he did not want to refuse her.

²⁷The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John’s head. So he went and beheaded him in prison,

²⁸brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When John’s disciples heard about it, they came and removed his corpse and placed it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught.

³¹He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

³²So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,

³³but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

³⁴When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.

³⁶Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷“You give them something to eat,” he responded. They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²Everyone ate and was satisfied.

⁴³They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.

⁴⁴Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.

⁴⁹When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out,

⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

⁵¹Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded,

⁵²because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to shore at Gennesaret and anchored there.

⁵⁴As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized him.

⁵⁵They hurried throughout that region and began to carry the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶Wherever he went, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch just the end of his robe. And everyone who touched it was healed.

¹Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah,

²and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

³Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

⁴And Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.

⁵Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.

⁶But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.

⁷This is the length of Abraham’s life: 175 years.

⁸He took his last breath and died at a good old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people.

⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hethite.

¹⁰This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hethites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

¹²These are the family records of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham.

¹³These are the names of Ishmael’s sons; their names according to the family records are Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

¹⁶These are Ishmael’s sons, and these are their names by their settlements and encampments: twelve leaders of their clans.

¹⁷This is the length of Ishmael’s life: 137 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people.

¹⁸And they settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He stayed near all his relatives.

¹⁹These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.

²⁰Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The LORD was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

²²But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

²³And the LORD said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

²⁴When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

²⁵The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.

²⁶After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

²⁸Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted.

³⁰He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.

³¹Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

³²“Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.

³⁴Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

¹Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children,

²and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

³But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.

⁴Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.

⁵For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.

⁷Therefore, do not become their partners.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light  —

⁹for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth  —

¹⁰testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

¹¹Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

¹²For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.

¹³Everything exposed by the light is made visible,

¹⁴for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

¹⁵Pay careful attention, then, to how you live — not as unwise people but as wise —

¹⁶making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

¹⁸And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,

²⁰giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

²¹submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,

²³because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

²⁷He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.

²⁸In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

³⁰since we are members of his body.

³¹For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

³²This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

³³To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

¹But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.

²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,

⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.

⁶For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,

⁷always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance,

¹¹along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured — and yet the Lord rescued me from them all.

¹²In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,

¹⁵and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

¹⁷so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

¹Then Job answered:

²How you have helped the powerless and delivered the arm that is weak!

³How you have counseled the unwise and abundantly provided insight!

⁴With whom did you speak these words? Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵The departed spirits tremble beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁷He stretches the northern skies over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He wraps up the water in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.

⁹He obscures the view of his throne, spreading his cloud over it.

¹⁰He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars that hold up the sky tremble, astounded at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he stirred the sea, and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.

¹³By his breath the heavens gained their beauty; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴These are but the fringes of his ways; how faint is the word we hear of him! Who can understand his mighty thunder?

¹For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. A psalm of David. [1] I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

²He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.

³How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you attack as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

⁴They only plan to bring him down from his high position. They take pleasure in lying; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. Selah

⁵Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him.

⁶He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken.

⁷My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

⁸Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah

⁹Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.

¹⁰Place no trust in oppression, or false hope in robbery. If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.

¹¹God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: strength belongs to God,

¹²and faithful love belongs to you, LORD. For you repay each according to his works.

¹Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor is inappropriate for a fool.

²Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.

⁴Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness or you’ll be like him yourself.

⁵Answer a fool according to his foolishness or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.

⁶The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.

⁷A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like lame legs that hang limp.

⁸Giving honor to a fool is like binding a stone in a sling.

⁹A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a stick with thorns, brandished by the hand of a drunkard.

¹⁰The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by is like an archer who wounds everyone.

¹¹As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.

¹²Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road — a lion in the public square!”

¹⁴A door turns on its hinges, and a slacker, on his bed.

¹⁵The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!

¹⁶In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser than seven who can answer sensibly.

¹⁷A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.

¹⁸Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows,

¹⁹so is the person who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

²⁰Without wood, fire goes out; without a gossip, conflict dies down.

²¹As charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being.

²³Smooth lips with an evil heart are like glaze on an earthen vessel.

²⁴A hateful person disguises himself with his speech and harbors deceit within.

²⁵When he speaks graciously, don’t believe him, for there are seven detestable things in his heart.

²⁶Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his evil will be revealed in the assembly.

²⁷The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone — it will come back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

¹After these faithful deeds, King Sennacherib of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended to break into them.

²Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he planned war on Jerusalem,

³so he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the water of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him.

⁴Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”

⁵Then Hezekiah strengthened his position by rebuilding the entire broken-down wall and heightening the towers and the other outside wall. He repaired the supporting terraces of the city of David, and made an abundance of weapons and shields.

⁶He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying,

⁷“Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria or before the large army that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.

⁸He has only human strength, but we have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

⁹After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria with all his armed forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem against King Hezekiah of Judah and against all those of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,

¹⁰“This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you relying on that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?

¹¹Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, “The LORD our God will keep us from the grasp of the king of Assyria”?

¹²Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove his high places and his altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

¹³“‘Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have any of the national gods of the lands been able to rescue their land from my power?

¹⁴Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors completely destroyed was able to rescue his people from my power, that your God should be able to deliver you from my power?

¹⁵So now, don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, and don’t let him mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my fathers. How much less will your God rescue you from my power! ’”

¹⁶His servants said more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷He also wrote letters to mock the LORD, the God of Israel, saying against him: Just like the national gods of the lands that did not rescue their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not rescue his people from my power.

¹⁸Then they called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem, who were on the wall, to frighten and discourage them in order that he might capture the city.

¹⁹They spoke against the God of Jerusalem like they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which were made by human hands.

²⁰King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven,

²¹and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword.

²²So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the power of all others. He gave them rest on every side.

²³Many were bringing an offering to the LORD to Jerusalem and valuable gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah, and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after that.

²⁴In those days Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, so he prayed to the LORD, and he spoke to him and gave him a miraculous sign.

²⁵However, because his heart was proud, Hezekiah didn’t respond according to the benefit that had come to him. So there was wrath on him, Judah, and Jerusalem.

²⁶Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart — he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — so the LORD’s wrath didn’t come on them during Hezekiah’s lifetime.

²⁷Hezekiah had abundant riches and glory, and he made himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and every desirable item.

²⁸He made warehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and pens for flocks.

²⁹He made cities for himself, and he acquired vast numbers of flocks and herds, for God gave him abundant possessions.

³⁰This same Hezekiah blocked the outlet of the water of the Upper Gihon and channeled it smoothly downward and westward to the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.

³¹When the ambassadors of Babylon’s rulers were sent to him to inquire about the miraculous sign that happened in the land, God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart.

³²As for the rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and his deeds of faithful love, note that they are written in the Visions of the Prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

³³Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried on the ascent to the tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh became king in his place.

¹Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish:

²I called to the LORD in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice.

³You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me.

⁴But I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple.

⁵The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

⁶I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, LORD my God!

⁷As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

⁸Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love,

⁹but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD.”

¹⁰Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

¹Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

³Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.