Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!”

²Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed,

³and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them.

⁴Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials — one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁶He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.

⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”

⁸Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.

⁹As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.”

¹¹Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes? ”

¹²Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt?

¹³But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.”

¹⁴When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them.

¹⁵When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.

¹⁶“What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.

¹⁷One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk.

¹⁸And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

¹⁹Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.

²¹“How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy.

²²The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

²³“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

²⁴The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”

²⁶Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”

²⁹Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer. ”

³⁰Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there,

³¹for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”

³²They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

³³After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?”

³⁴But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.

³⁵He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

³⁶Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷“Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

³⁸John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.”

³⁹“Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me.

⁴⁰Anyone who is not against us is for us.

⁴¹If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

⁴²“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.

⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

⁴⁸‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’

⁴⁹“For everyone will be tested with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

¹So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women.

²Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters.

³May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations!

⁴May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.

⁶Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.”

⁷He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women.

⁹So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.

¹⁰Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.

¹¹At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep.

¹²As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

¹³At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.

¹⁴Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions — to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

¹⁵What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

¹⁷But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

¹⁸The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it.

¹⁹He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.

²⁰Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing,

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

²²And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

¹Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?

²Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

³Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

⁴Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

⁵You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

⁶Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

⁷Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,

⁸he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

⁹Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,

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

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

¹²Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.

¹³For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

¹⁴Do everything without complaining and arguing,

¹⁵so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

¹⁶Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.

¹⁷But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy.

¹⁸Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

¹⁹If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along.

²⁰I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare.

²¹All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ.

²²But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News.

²³I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here.

²⁴And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon.

²⁵Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need.

²⁶I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill.

²⁷And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him — and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.

²⁸So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be so worried about you.

²⁹Welcome him in the Lord’s love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve.

³⁰For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away.

¹As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching.

²Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.

³Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good.

⁴These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children,

⁵to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.

⁶In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely.

⁷And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.

⁸Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.

⁹Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back

¹⁰or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.

¹¹For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.

¹²And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,

¹³while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

¹⁴He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

¹⁵You must teach these things and encourage the believers to do them. You have the authority to correct them when necessary, so don’t let anyone disregard what you say.

¹Job continued speaking:

²“I long for the years gone by when God took care of me,

³when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness.

⁴When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home.

⁵The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me.

⁶My steps were awash in cream, and the rocks gushed olive oil for me.

⁷“Those were the days when I went to the city gate and took my place among the honored leaders.

⁸The young stepped aside when they saw me, and even the aged rose in respect at my coming.

⁹The princes stood in silence and put their hands over their mouths.

¹⁰The highest officials of the city stood quietly, holding their tongues in respect.

¹¹“All who heard me praised me. All who saw me spoke well of me.

¹²For I assisted the poor in their need and the orphans who required help.

¹³I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy.

¹⁴Everything I did was honest. Righteousness covered me like a robe, and I wore justice like a turban.

¹⁵I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor and assisted strangers who needed help.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and plucked their victims from their teeth.

¹⁸“I thought, ‘Surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long, good life.

¹⁹For I am like a tree whose roots reach the water, whose branches are refreshed with the dew.

²⁰New honors are constantly bestowed on me, and my strength is continually renewed.’

²¹“Everyone listened to my advice. They were silent as they waited for me to speak.

²²And after I spoke, they had nothing to add, for my counsel satisfied them.

²³They longed for me to speak as people long for rain. They drank my words like a refreshing spring rain.

²⁴When they were discouraged, I smiled at them. My look of approval was precious to them.

²⁵Like a chief, I told them what to do. I lived like a king among his troops and comforted those who mourned.

¹What mighty praise, O God, belongs to you in Zion. We will fulfill our vows to you,

²for you answer our prayers. All of us must come to you.

³Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all.

⁴What joy for those you choose to bring near, those who live in your holy courts. What festivities await us inside your holy Temple.

⁵You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas.

⁶You formed the mountains by your power and armed yourself with mighty strength.

⁷You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations.

⁸Those who live at the ends of the earth stand in awe of your wonders. From where the sun rises to where it sets, you inspire shouts of joy.

⁹You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so.

¹⁰You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops.

¹¹You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.

¹²The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.

¹³The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!

¹Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

²When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.

³The man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but if he hangs around with prostitutes, his wealth is wasted.

⁴A just king gives stability to his nation, but one who demands bribes destroys it.

⁵To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet.

⁶Evil people are trapped by sin, but the righteous escape, shouting for joy.

⁷The godly care about the rights of the poor; the wicked don’t care at all.

⁸Mockers can get a whole town agitated, but the wise will calm anger.

⁹If a wise person takes a fool to court, there will be ranting and ridicule but no satisfaction.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate blameless people, but the upright seek to help them.

¹¹Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to liars, all his advisers will be wicked.

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

¹⁴If a king judges the poor fairly, his throne will last forever.

¹⁵To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.

¹⁶When the wicked are in authority, sin flourishes, but the godly will live to see their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad.

¹⁸When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.

¹⁹Words alone will not discipline a servant; the words may be understood, but they are not heeded.

²⁰There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.

²¹A servant pampered from childhood will become a rebel.

²²An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.

²³Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.

²⁴If you assist a thief, you only hurt yourself. You are sworn to tell the truth, but you dare not testify.

²⁵Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, but justice comes from the LORD.

²⁷The righteous despise the unjust; the wicked despise the godly.

¹Then Josiah announced that the Passover of the LORD would be celebrated in Jerusalem, and so the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²Josiah also assigned the priests to their duties and encouraged them in their work at the Temple of the LORD.

³He issued this order to the Levites, who were to teach all Israel and who had been set apart to serve the LORD: “Put the holy Ark in the Temple that was built by Solomon son of David, the king of Israel. You no longer need to carry it back and forth on your shoulders. Now spend your time serving the LORD your God and his people Israel.

⁴Report for duty according to the family divisions of your ancestors, following the directions of King David of Israel and the directions of his son Solomon.

⁵“Then stand in the sanctuary at the place appointed for your family division and help the families assigned to you as they bring their offerings to the Temple.

⁶Slaughter the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and prepare to help those who come. Follow all the directions that the LORD gave through Moses.”

⁷Then Josiah provided 30,000 lambs and young goats for the people’s Passover offerings, along with 3,000 cattle, all from the king’s own flocks and herds.

⁸The king’s officials also made willing contributions to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the administrators of God’s Temple, gave the priests 2,600 lambs and young goats and 300 cattle as Passover offerings.

⁹The Levite leaders — Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, as well as Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad — gave 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 cattle to the Levites for their Passover offerings.

¹⁰When everything was ready for the Passover celebration, the priests and the Levites took their places, organized by their divisions, as the king had commanded.

¹¹The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs and presented the blood to the priests, who sprinkled the blood on the altar while the Levites prepared the animals.

¹²They divided the burnt offerings among the people by their family groups, so they could offer them to the LORD as prescribed in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.

¹³Then they roasted the Passover lambs as prescribed; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them out quickly so the people could eat them.

¹⁴Afterward the Levites prepared Passover offerings for themselves and for the priests — the descendants of Aaron — because the priests had been busy from morning till night offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions. The Levites took responsibility for all these preparations.

¹⁵The musicians, descendants of Asaph, were in their assigned places, following the commands that had been given by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s seer. The gatekeepers guarded the gates and did not need to leave their posts of duty, for their Passover offerings were prepared for them by their fellow Levites.

¹⁶The entire ceremony for the LORD’s Passover was completed that day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had commanded.

¹⁷All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹⁸Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel.

¹⁹This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

²⁰After Josiah had finished restoring the Temple, King Neco of Egypt led his army up from Egypt to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah and his army marched out to fight him.

²¹But King Neco sent messengers to Josiah with this message: “What do you want with me, king of Judah? I have no quarrel with you today! I am on my way to fight another nation, and God has told me to hurry! Do not interfere with God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

²²But Josiah refused to listen to Neco, to whom God had indeed spoken, and he would not turn back. Instead, he disguised himself and led his army into battle on the plain of Megiddo.

²³But the enemy archers hit King Josiah with their arrows and wounded him. He cried out to his men, “Take me from the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

²⁴So they lifted Josiah out of his chariot and placed him in another chariot. Then they brought him back to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried there in the royal cemetery. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

²⁵The prophet Jeremiah composed funeral songs for Josiah, and to this day choirs still sing these sad songs about his death. These songs of sorrow have become a tradition and are recorded in The Book of Laments.

²⁶The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion (carried out according to what was written in the Law of the LORD),

²⁷from beginning to end — all are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

¹The LORD gave this message to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign LORD is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.

³Look! The LORD is coming! He leaves his throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth.

⁴The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill.

⁵And why is this happening? Because of the rebellion of Israel — yes, the sins of the whole nation. Who is to blame for Israel’s rebellion? Samaria, its capital city! Where is the center of idolatry in Judah? In Jerusalem, its capital!

⁶“So I, the LORD, will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins. Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below, exposing her foundations.

⁷All her carved images will be smashed. All her sacred treasures will be burned. These things were bought with the money earned by her prostitution, and they will now be carried away to pay prostitutes elsewhere.”

⁸Therefore, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl.

⁹For my people’s wound is too deep to heal. It has reached into Judah, even to the gates of Jerusalem.

¹⁰Don’t tell our enemies in Gath ; don’t weep at all. You people in Beth-leaphrah, roll in the dust to show your despair.

¹¹You people in Shaphir, go as captives into exile — naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not come outside their walls. The people of Beth-ezel mourn, for their house has no support.

¹²The people of Maroth anxiously wait for relief, but only bitterness awaits them as the LORD’s judgment reaches even to the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness your chariot horses and flee, you people of Lachish. You were the first city in Judah to follow Israel in her rebellion, and you led Jerusalem into sin.

¹⁴Send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath ; there is no hope of saving it. The town of Aczib has deceived the kings of Israel.

¹⁵O people of Mareshah, I will bring a conqueror to capture your town. And the leaders of Israel will go to Adullam.

¹⁶Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.

¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.

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

³“Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.”

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”

⁵As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God.

⁹But some became stubborn, rejecting his message and publicly speaking against the Way. So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he held daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia — both Jews and Greeks — heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles.

¹²When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.

¹³A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!”

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

¹⁵But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

¹⁷The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored.

¹⁸Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices.

¹⁹A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.

²⁰So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.

²¹Afterward Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. “And after that,” he said, “I must go on to Rome!”

²²He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia.

²³About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way.

²⁴It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy.

²⁵He called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows: “Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business.

²⁶But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province!

²⁷Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis — this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world — will be robbed of her great prestige!”

²⁸At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

³⁰Paul wanted to go in, too, but the believers wouldn’t let him.

³¹Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater.

³²Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn’t even know why they were there.

³³The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak.

³⁴But when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵At last the mayor was able to quiet them down enough to speak. “Citizens of Ephesus,” he said. “Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down to us from heaven.

³⁶Since this is an undeniable fact, you should stay calm and not do anything rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess.

³⁸“If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against them, the courts are in session and the officials can hear the case at once. Let them make formal charges.

³⁹And if there are complaints about other matters, they can be settled in a legal assembly.

⁴⁰I am afraid we are in danger of being charged with rioting by the Roman government, since there is no cause for all this commotion. And if Rome demands an explanation, we won’t know what to say.”

⁴¹Then he dismissed them, and they dispersed.