Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

²And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,

³and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

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

⁵And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

⁶For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

⁷And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

⁸And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

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

¹⁰So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

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

¹²And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

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

¹⁴And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.

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

¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

¹⁸And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

¹⁹And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

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

²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, 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.”

²⁶And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

²⁸And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁹And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

³⁰They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,

³¹for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

³²But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

³³And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

³⁴But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

³⁵And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

³⁶And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”

³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.

⁴⁰ For the one who is not against us is for us.

⁴¹For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

⁴² “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³ And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

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

⁴⁶

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

⁴⁸‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

²Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

³God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.

⁴May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”

⁵Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”

⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,

⁹Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

¹²And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

¹³And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

¹⁴Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

¹⁵Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

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

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

¹⁸So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

²¹so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,

²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

¹So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

²complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

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

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

¹²Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

¹³for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

¹⁵that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

¹⁶holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

¹⁷Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

¹⁸Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.

²⁰For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

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

²²But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

²³I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,

²⁴and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

²⁵I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,

²⁶for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.

²⁷Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.

²⁹So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,

³⁰for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

¹But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

²Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

³Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,

⁴and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

⁵to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

⁶Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

⁷Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

⁸and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

⁹Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

¹⁰not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

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

¹²training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

¹³waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

¹⁵Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

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

⁴as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was 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 searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

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

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

¹Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.

²O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.

³When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.

⁴Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

⁵By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;

⁶the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;

⁷who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,

⁸so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.

¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

¹¹You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

¹²The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,

¹³the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

¹He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

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

³He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down.

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

⁶An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

⁷A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

⁸Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

⁹If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

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

¹³The poor man and the oppressor meet together; the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

¹⁸Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

¹⁹By mere words a servant is not disciplined, for though he understands, he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹Whoever pampers his servant from childhood will in the end find him his heir.

²²A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

²³One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.

²⁵The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

²⁶Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice.

²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD.

³And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.

⁴Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses by your divisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son.

⁵And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers' household.

⁶And slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses.”

⁷Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king's possessions.

⁸And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls.

⁹Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

¹⁰When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command.

¹¹And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood that they received from them while the Levites flayed the sacrifices.

¹²And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls.

¹³And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

¹⁴And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

¹⁵The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah.

¹⁷And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

¹⁸No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

²⁰After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.

²¹But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.”

²²Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo.

²³And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.”

²⁴So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.

²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the LORD,

²⁷and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

¹The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

³For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

⁴And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

⁵All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

⁷All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

⁸For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

⁹For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

¹⁰Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all; in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust.

¹¹Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

¹²For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam.

¹⁶Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

¹And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

²And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”

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

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

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

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

¹¹And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

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

¹³Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke 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 answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

¹⁸Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.

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

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, 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 may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

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

²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel.

³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

³¹And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Now some cried out 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 prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?

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

³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

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

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.

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

⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.