Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²And six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter, James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;

³and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

⁴And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here; let’s make three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁶For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified.

⁷Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!”

⁸And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

⁹As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead.

¹⁰They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.

¹¹And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

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

¹³But I say to you that Elijah hasindeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

¹⁴And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him.

¹⁶And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?”

¹⁷And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak;

¹⁸and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.”

¹⁹And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

²⁰And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

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

²²It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

²³But Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, Icommand you, come out of him and do not enter himagain!”

²⁶And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up.

²⁸When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?”

²⁹And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

³⁰And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it.

³¹For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to behanded over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been 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; and when He was in the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?”

³⁴But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.

³⁵And sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

³⁶And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them,

³⁷“Whoeverreceivesone child like this in My namereceives Me; and whoeverreceives Me does notreceive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

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

³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.

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

⁴¹For whoever gives you a cup of water to drinkbecause of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

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

⁴³And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go intohell, into the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown intohell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown intohell,

⁴⁸where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT EXTINGUISHED.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will youmake it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, saying to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

²Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

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

⁴May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, so that you may possess the land where you live as a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”

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

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

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

⁸So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;

⁹and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

¹⁰Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹And he happened upon a particular place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and made it a support for his head, and lay down in that place.

¹²And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³Then behold, the LORD was standing above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants.

¹⁴Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants 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, “The LORD is certainly 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 Jacob got up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had placed as a support for his head, and set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on its top.

¹⁹Then he named that place Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.

²⁰Jacob also made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and give me food to eat and garments to wear,

²¹and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.

²²And this stone, which I have set up as a memorial stone, will be God’s house, and of everything that You give me I will assuredly give a tenth to You.”

¹Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

²make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

³Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;

⁴do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

⁷but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

⁹For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

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

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

¹³for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without complaining or arguments;

¹⁵so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

¹⁶holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

¹⁸You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

¹⁹But I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

²⁰For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

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

²²But you know of his proven character, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

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

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

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

²⁶because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

²⁷For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

²⁸Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

²⁹Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold people like him in high regard,

³⁰because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to compensate for your absence in your service to me.

¹But as for you, proclaim the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

²Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

³Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,

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

⁵to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;

⁷in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

⁸sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹Urge slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be pleasing, not argumentative,

¹⁰not stealing, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

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

¹²instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age,

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

¹⁴who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.

¹⁵These things speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you.

¹Job again took up his discourse and said,

²“Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;

³When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴Just as I was in the days of my youth, When the protection of God was over my tent;

⁵When the Almighty was still with me, And my children were around me;

⁶When my steps were bathed in cream, And the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat in the public square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the old men arose and stood.

⁹The leaders stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The voices of the prominent people were hushed, And their tongues stuck to their palates.

¹¹For when an ear heard, it called me blessed, And when an eye saw, it testified in support of me,

¹²Because I saved the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper.

¹³The blessing of the one who was about to perish came upon me, And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a headband.

¹⁵I was eyes to those who were blind, And feet to those who could not walk.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor, And I investigated the case which I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the wicked And rescued the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I will die with my family, And I will multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters, And dew lies on my branch all night.

²⁰My glory is ever new with me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹“To me they listened and waited, And they kept silent for my advice.

²²After my words they did not speak again, And my speech dropped on them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, And opened their mouths as for the late rain.

²⁴I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not look at my kindness ungraciously.

²⁵I chose a way for them and sat as chief, And lived as a king among the troops, As one who comforted the mourners.

¹There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, God, And the vow will be fulfilled for You.

²You who hear prayer, To You all mankind comes.

³Wrongdoings prevail against me; As for our offenses, You forgive them.

⁴Blessed is the one You choose and allow to approach You; He will dwell in Your courtyards. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

⁵By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and the farthest sea;

⁶Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Who is encircled with might;

⁷Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the turmoil of the nations.

⁸They who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for so You prepare the earth.

¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.

¹¹You have crowned the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with fatness.

¹²The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.

¹³The meadows are clothed with flocks And the valleys are covered with grain; They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

¹A person often rebuked who becomes obstinate Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king gives stability to the land by justice, But a person who takes bribes ruins it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.

⁶By wrongdoing an evil person is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; The wicked does not understand such concern.

⁸Arrogant people inflame a city, But wise people turn away anger.

⁹When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person, The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

¹⁰People of bloodshed hate the blameless person, But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A fool always loses his temper, But a wise person holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

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

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, wrongdoing increases; But the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

¹⁹A slave will not be instructed by words alone; For though he understands, there will be no response.

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

²¹One who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be rebellious.

²²An angry person stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.

²³A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴One who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, And one who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover animals 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.

³He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

⁴Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon.

⁵Furthermore, stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your countrymen, the lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household.

⁶Now slaughter the Passover animals, keep one another consecrated, and prepare for your countrymen to act in accordance with the word of the LORD by Moses.”

⁷Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering thirty thousand, plus three thousand bulls; these were from the king’s property.

⁸His officers also contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings.

⁹Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed five thousand from the flocks and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.

¹⁰So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their positions and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command.

¹¹They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand, the Levites skinned the animals.

¹²Then they removed the burnt offerings so that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did this with the bulls as well.

¹³So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

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

¹⁵The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their positions according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.

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

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

¹⁸There had not been a Passover celebrated like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

²⁰After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to wage war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him.

²¹But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What business do you have with me, King of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. For your own sake, stop interfering with God who is with me, so that He does not destroy you.”

²²However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight against him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but he came to wage war on the plain of Megiddo.

²³The 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 on the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵Then Jeremiah chanted a song of mourning for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of mourning to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations.

²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the Law of the LORD,

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

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

²Hear, you peoples, all of you; Listen carefully, earth and all it contains, And may the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.

³For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

⁴The mountains will melt under Him And the valleys will be split, Like wax before the fire, Like water poured down a steep place.

⁵All this is due to the wrongdoing of Jacob And the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, Planting places for a vineyard. I will hurl her stones down into the valley, And lay bare her foundations.

⁷All of her idols will be crushed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire, And all of her images I will make desolate; For she collected them from a prostitute’s earnings, And to the earnings of a prostitute they will return.

⁸Because of this I must mourn and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must do mourning like the jackals, And a mourning like the ostriches.

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

¹⁰Do not tell it in Gath, Do not weep at all. At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust in mourning.

¹¹Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape. The mourning of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”

¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth Waits for something good, Because a disaster has come down from the LORD To the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the chariot to the team of horses, You inhabitant of Lachish— She was the beginning of sin To the daughter of Zion— Because in you were found The rebellious acts of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you will give parting gifts In behalf of Moresheth-gath; The houses of Achzib will become a deception To the kings of Israel.

¹⁵Moreover, I will bring on you The one who takes possession, You inhabitant of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.

¹⁶Shave yourself bald, yes, cut off your hair, Because of the children of your delight; Extend your baldness like the eagle, For they will go from you into exile.

¹Now it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.

²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “On the contrary, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.”

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

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

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

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

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, having discussions and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took the disciples away with him, and had discussions daily in the school of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹²so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

¹³But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had the evil spirits, saying, “I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!”

¹⁴Now there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit responded and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?”

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

¹⁷This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

¹⁸Also many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

¹⁹And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they added up the prices of the books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So the word of the Lord was growing and prevailing mightily.

²¹Now after these things were finished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²²And after he sent into Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time a major disturbance occurred in regard to the Way.

²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing considerable business to the craftsmen;

²⁵he gathered these men together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business.

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

²⁷Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”

²⁸When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began shouting, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s Macedonian traveling companions.

³⁰And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.

³¹Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent word to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater.

³²So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵After quieting the crowd, the town clerk *said, “Men of Ephesus, what person is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from the sky?

³⁶So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.

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

³⁸So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; have them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.

⁴⁰For indeed, we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no real reason for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.”

⁴¹After saying this he dismissed the assembly.