Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”

²After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them,

³and his clothes became dazzling — extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.

⁴Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let us set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —

⁶because he did not know what to say, since they were terrified.

⁷A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!”

⁸Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰They kept this word to themselves, questioning what “rising from the dead” meant.

¹¹Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written about him.”

¹⁴When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.

¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.

¹⁶He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”

¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.

¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”

¹⁹He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.

²²“And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.”

²⁷But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

²⁸After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

³⁰Then they left that place and made their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it.

³¹For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.”

³²But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.

³³They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”

³⁴But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.

³⁵Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”

³⁶He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷“Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.”

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”

³⁹“Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me.

⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us.

⁴¹And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ — truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

⁴²“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away  — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³“And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

⁴⁸wheretheir worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl.

²Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

³May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.

⁴May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl.”

⁷And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.

⁸Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

⁹so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

¹⁰Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

¹²And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

¹³The LORD was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.

¹⁴Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

¹⁵Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it

¹⁹and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

²¹and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the LORD will be my God.

²²This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”

¹If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,

²make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

⁴Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

⁶who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

⁷Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,

⁸he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.

⁹For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow  — in heaven and on earth and under the earth  —

¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

¹³For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

¹⁴Do everything without grumbling and arguing,

¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world,

¹⁶by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

¹⁷But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

¹⁸In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be encouraged by news about you.

²⁰For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests;

²¹all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

²²But you know his proven character, because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father.

²³Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.

²⁴I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.

²⁵But I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus  — my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier, as well as your messenger and minister to my need  —

²⁶since he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick.

²⁷Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸For this reason, I am very eager to send him so that you may rejoice again when you see him and I may be less anxious.

²⁹Therefore, welcome him in the Lord with great joy and hold people like him in honor,

³⁰because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up what was lacking in your ministry to me.

¹But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching.

²Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance.

³In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good,

⁴so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children,

⁵to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.

⁶In the same way, encourage the young men to be self-controlled

⁷in everything. Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching.

⁸Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.

⁹Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back

¹⁰or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

¹²instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,

¹³while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

¹⁴He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.

¹⁵Proclaim these things; encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

¹Job continued his discourse, saying:

²If only I could be as in months gone by, in the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone above my head, and I walked through darkness by his light!

⁴I would be as I was in the days of my youth when God’s friendship rested on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,

⁶when my feet were bathed in curds and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the town square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, while older men stood to their feet.

⁹City officials stopped talking and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The noblemen’s voices were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹When they heard me, they blessed me, and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.

¹²For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.

¹³The dying blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.

¹⁴I clothed myself in righteousness, and it enveloped me; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I examined the case of the stranger.

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸So I thought, “I will die in my own nest and multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My roots will have access to water, and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

²⁰My whole being will be refreshed within me, and my bow will be renewed in my hand.”

²¹Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my advice.

²²After a word from me they did not speak again; my speech settled on them like dew.

²³They waited for me as for the rain and opened their mouths as for spring showers.

²⁴If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it; they were thrilled at the light of my countenance.

²⁵I directed their course and presided as chief. I lived as a king among his troops, like one who comforts those who mourn.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. A song. [1] Praise is rightfully yours, God, in Zion; vows to you will be fulfilled.

²All humanity will come to you, the one who hears prayer.

³Iniquities overwhelm me; only you can atone for our rebellions.

⁴How happy is the one you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.

⁵You answer us in righteousness, with awe-inspiring works, God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the distant seas.

⁶You establish the mountains by your power; you are robed with strength.

⁷You silence the roar of the seas, the roar of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.

⁸Those who live far away are awed by your signs; you make east and west shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and water it abundantly, enriching it greatly. God’s stream is filled with water, for you prepare the earth in this way, providing people with grain.

¹⁰You soften it with showers and bless its growth, soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.

¹¹You crown the year with your goodness; your carts overflow with plenty.

¹²The wilderness pastures overflow, and the hills are robed with joy.

¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks and the valleys covered with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

¹One who becomes stiff-necked, after many reprimands will be shattered instantly — beyond recovery.

²When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but one who consorts with prostitutes destroys his wealth.

⁴By justice a king brings stability to a land, but a person who demands “contributions” demolishes it.

⁵A person who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil person is caught by sin, but the righteous one sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous person knows the rights of the poor, but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.

⁸Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger.

⁹If a wise person goes to court with a fool, there will be ranting and raving but no resolution.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate an honest person, but the upright care about him.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise person holds it in check.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

¹³The poor and the oppressor have this in common: the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴A king who judges the poor with fairness — his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a youth left to himself is a disgrace to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, rebellion increases, but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your child, and it will bring you peace of mind and give you delight.

¹⁸Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

¹⁹A servant cannot be disciplined by words; though he understands, he doesn’t respond.

²⁰Do you see someone who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹A servant pampered from his youth will become arrogant later on.

²²An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered one increases rebellion.

²³A person’s pride will humble him, but a humble spirit will gain honor.

²⁴To be a thief’s partner is to hate oneself; he hears the curse but will not testify.

²⁵The fear of mankind is a snare, but the one who trusts in the LORD is protected.

²⁶Many desire a ruler’s favor, but a person receives justice from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.

¹Josiah observed the LORD’s Passover and slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the LORD’s temple.

³He said to the Levites who taught all Israel the holy things of the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. Since you do not have to carry it on your shoulders, now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.

⁴“Organize your ancestral families by your divisions according to the written instruction of King David of Israel and that of his son Solomon.

⁵Serve in the holy place by the groupings of the ancestral families for your brothers, the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by family.

⁶Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your brothers to carry out the word of the LORD through Moses.”

⁷Then Josiah donated thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and young goats, plus three thousand cattle from his own possessions, for the Passover sacrifices for all the lay people who were present.

⁸His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave twenty-six hundred Passover sacrifices and three hundred cattle for the priests.

⁹Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated five thousand Passover sacrifices for the Levites, plus five hundred cattle.

¹⁰So the service was established; the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command.

¹¹Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and while the Levites were skinning the animals, the priests splattered the blood they had been given.

¹²They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the groupings of the ancestral families of the lay people to offer to the LORD, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the cattle.

¹³They roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to regulation. They boiled the holy sacrifices in pots, kettles, and bowls; and they quickly brought them to the lay people.

¹⁴Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering up burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁵The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. Also, the gatekeepers were at each temple gate. None of them left their tasks because their Levite brothers had made preparations for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the LORD was established that day for observing the Passover and for offering burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah.

¹⁷The Israelites who were present in Judah also observed the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹⁸No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.

²⁰After all this that Josiah had prepared for the temple, King Neco of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him.

²¹But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, king of Judah? I have not come against you today but I am fighting another dynasty. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God who is with me; don’t make him destroy you!”

²²But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo to fight.

²³The archers shot King Josiah, and he said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded!”

²⁴So his servants took him out of the war chariot, carried him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he died, and they buried him in the tomb of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵Jeremiah chanted a dirge over Josiah, and all the male and female singers still speak of Josiah in their dirges today. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Dirges.

²⁶The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, along with his deeds of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the LORD,

²⁷and his words, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

¹The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite  — what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Listen, all you peoples; pay attention, earth and everyone in it! The Lord GOD will be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple.

³Look, the LORD is leaving his place and coming down to trample the heights of the earth.

⁴The mountains will melt beneath him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax near a fire, like water cascading down a mountainside.

⁵All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the rebellion of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Isn’t it Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the countryside, a planting area for a vineyard. I will roll her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.

⁷All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again for a prostitute.

⁸Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like the jackals and mourn like ostriches.

⁹For her wound is incurable and has reached even Judah; it has approached my people’s city gate, as far as Jerusalem.

¹⁰Don’t announce it in Gath, don’t weep at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.

¹¹Depart in shameful nakedness, you residents of Shaphir; the residents of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is lamenting; its support is taken from you.

¹²Though the residents of Maroth anxiously wait for something good, disaster has come from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the horses to the chariot, you residents of Lachish. This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion because Israel’s acts of rebellion can be traced to you.

¹⁴Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib are a deception to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah. The nobility of Israel will come to Adullam.

¹⁶Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in sorrow for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they have been taken from you into exile.

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

²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³“Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied.

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

⁵When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in other tongues and to prophesy.

⁷Now there were about twelve men in all.

⁸Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

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

¹¹God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands,

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

¹³Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!”

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

¹⁵The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul — but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.

¹⁸And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices,

¹⁹while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.

²¹After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.”

²²After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way.

²⁴For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen.

²⁵When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.

²⁶You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.

²⁷Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin — the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions.

³⁰Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him.

³¹Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater.

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

³³Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.

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

³⁵When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?

³⁶Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly.

⁴⁰In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance.”

⁴¹After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.