Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, look! What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”

²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were questioning Him privately,

⁴“Tell us, when will these things come about, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”

⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

⁶Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and they will mislead many.

⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

⁸For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are only the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“But be on your guard; for they will hand you over to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.

¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

¹¹And when theyarrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time; for you are not the ones speaking, but it is the Holy Spirit.

¹²And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents andhave them put to death.

¹³And you will be hated by everyone because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

¹⁴“Now when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be— let the reader understand—then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁵Whoever is on thehousetop must not go down, nor go in to get anything out of his house.

¹⁶Andwhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁷But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

¹⁸Moreover, pray that it will not happen in winter.

¹⁹For those days will be such a time of tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will again.

²⁰And if the Lord had not shortened those days, nolife would have been saved; but for the sake of theelect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

²¹And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is theChrist’; or, ‘Look, there He is’; do not believe it;

²²for false christs and false prophets will arise, and will provide signs and wonders, in order to mislead, if possible, the elect.

²³But beware; I have told you everything in advance.

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT,

²⁵AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory.

²⁷And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together Hiselect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹So you too, when you see these things happening,recognize thatHe is near, right at thedoor.

³⁰Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³²But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“Watch out, stay alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is.

³⁴It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house andputting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert.

³⁵Therefore, stay alert—for you do not know when themaster of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

³⁶so that he does not come suddenly and find you asleep.

³⁷What I say to you I say to all: ‘Stay alert!’ ”

¹Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him.

²And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

³Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and stayed until now;

⁵and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

⁸for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’

¹⁰I am unworthy of all the favor and of all the faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

¹¹Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

¹²For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’ ”

¹³So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a gift for his brother Esau:

¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

¹⁶Then he placed them in the care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.”

¹⁷And he commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’

¹⁸then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ”

¹⁹Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

²⁰and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²²Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the Jabbok.

²³He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

²⁴Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

²⁸Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

²⁹And Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

³¹Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his hip.

³²Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.

¹For I want you to know how great a struggle I have in your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,

²that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and that they would attain to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.

⁵For even though I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ.

⁶Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

⁷having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.

⁹For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

¹⁰and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority;

¹¹and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,

¹²having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

¹³And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings,

¹⁴having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

¹⁵When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

¹⁶Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—

¹⁷things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

¹⁸Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,

¹⁹and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

²⁰If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,

²¹“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”

²²(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man?

²³These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

¹My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

²For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

³and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”

⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

¹²So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

¹⁷In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

¹⁸But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

²¹Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

¹“However, please hear my speech, Job, And listen to all my words.

²Behold now, I open my mouth, My tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words are from the integrity of my heart, And my lips speak knowledge sincerely.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Refute me if you can; Line up against me, take your stand.

⁶Behold, I belong to God, like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.

⁷Behold, no fear of me should terrify you, Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.

⁸“You have in fact spoken while I listened, And I heard the sound of your words:

⁹‘I am pure, without wrongdoing; I am innocent and there is no guilt in me.

¹⁰Behold, He invents criticisms against me; He counts me as His enemy.

¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches all my paths.’

¹²Behold, let me respond to you, you are not right in this, For God is greater than mankind.

¹³“Why do you complain to Him That He does not give an account of all His doings?

¹⁴Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one notices it.

¹⁵In a dream, a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls on people, While they slumber in their beds,

¹⁶Then He opens the ears of people, And horrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷So that He may turn a person away from bad conduct, And keep a man from pride;

¹⁸He keeps his soul back from the pit, And his life from perishing by the spear.

¹⁹“A person is also rebuked by pain in his bed, And with constant complaint in his bones,

²⁰So that his life loathes bread, And his soul, food that he should crave.

²¹His flesh wastes away from sight, And his bones, which were not seen, stick out.

²²Then his soul comes near to the pit, And his life to those who bring death.

²³“If there is an interceding angel for him, One out of a thousand, To remind a person of what is right for him,

²⁴And he is gracious to him, and says, ‘Free him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom’;

²⁵Let his flesh become fresher than in youth, Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;

²⁶Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, So that he may see His face with joy, And He will restore His righteousness to that person.

²⁷He will sing to people and say, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, And it is not proper for me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, And my life will see the light.’

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things for a man two or three times,

³⁰To bring back his soul from the pit, So that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, Job, listen to me; Keep silent, and let me speak.

³²Then if you have anything to say, answer me; Speak, for I would take pleasure in justifying you.

³³If not, listen to me; Keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹Save me, God, For the waters have threatened my life.

²I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.

³I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, those who oppose me with lies; What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

⁵God, You know my foolishness, And my guilt is not hidden from You.

⁶May those who wait for You not be ashamed because of me, Lord GOD of armies; May those who seek You not be dishonored because of me, God of Israel,

⁷Because for Your sake I have endured disgrace; Dishonor has covered my face.

⁸I have become estranged from my brothers, And a stranger to my mother’s sons.

⁹For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the taunts of those who taunt You have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my disgrace.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a proverb to them.

¹²Those who sit in the gate talk about me, And songs of mockery by those habitually drunk are about me.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to You, LORD, at an acceptable time; God, in the greatness of Your mercy, Answer me with Your saving truth.

¹⁴Rescue me from the mud and do not let me sink; May I be rescued from those who hate me, and from the depths of water.

¹⁵May the flood of water not overflow me Nor the deep swallow me up, Nor the pit close its mouth on me.

¹⁶Answer me, LORD, for Your mercy is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me,

¹⁷And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly.

¹⁸Come near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies!

¹⁹You know my disgrace, my shame, and my dishonor; All my enemies are known to You.

²⁰Disgrace has broken my heart, and I am so sick. And I waited for sympathy, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They also gave me a bitter herb in my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²May their table before them become a snare; And when they are at peace, may it become a trap.

²³May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their hips shake continually.

²⁴Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵May their camp be desolated; May there be none living in their tents.

²⁶For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself struck, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded.

²⁷Add guilt to their guilt, And may they not come into Your righteousness.

²⁸May they be wiped out of the book of life, And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

²⁹But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, God, set me safely on high.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with song, And exalt Him with thanksgiving.

³¹And it will please the LORD better than an ox Or bull with horns and hoofs.

³²The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God, let your heart revive.

³³For the LORD hears the needy, And does not despise those of His who are prisoners.

³⁴Heaven and earth shall praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, So that they may live there and possess it.

³⁶The descendants of His servants will inherit it, And those who love His name will live in it.

¹My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

²Make your ear attentive to wisdom; Incline your heart to understanding.

³For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;

⁵Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

⁸Guarding the paths of justice, And He watches over the way of His godly ones.

⁹Then you will discern righteousness, justice, And integrity, and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, And knowledge will be delightful to your soul;

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, Understanding will guard you,

¹²To rescue you from the way of evil, From a person who speaks perverse things;

¹³From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

¹⁵Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways;

¹⁶To rescue you from the strange woman, From the foreign woman who flatters with her words,

¹⁷Who leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸For her house sinks down to death, And her tracks lead to the dead;

¹⁹None who go to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of good people And keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will live in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;

²²But the wicked will be eliminated from the land, And the treacherous will be torn away from it.

¹Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one person to Jerusalem.

²Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, rose up and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God.

³So they set up the altar on its foundation, because they were terrified of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.

⁴They also celebrated the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the prescribed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required;

⁵and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the appointed festivals of the LORD that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a voluntary offering to the LORD.

⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, but the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid.

⁷Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

⁸Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites who were twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.

⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

¹⁰Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel.

¹¹And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, “For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

¹²Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy,

¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

¹“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

²But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

³Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remainder of His kinsmen Will return to the sons of Israel.

⁴And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth.

⁵This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of people.

⁶They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will rescue us from the Assyrian When he invades our land, And when he tramples our territory.

⁷Then the remnant of Jacob Will be among many peoples Like dew from the LORD, Like showers on vegetation That do not wait for man, Or delay for mankind.

⁸The remnant of Jacob Will be among the nations, Among many peoples Like a lion among the animals of the forest, Like a young lion among flocks of sheep, Which, if he passes through, Tramples and tears, And there is no one who can rescue.

⁹Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, And all your enemies will be eliminated.

¹⁰“And it will be on that day,” declares the LORD, “That I will eliminate your horses from among you, And destroy your chariots.

¹¹I will also eliminate the cities of your land, And tear down all your fortifications.

¹²I will eliminate sorceries from your hand, And you will have no fortune-tellers.

¹³I will eliminate your carved images And your memorial stones from among you, So that you will no longer bow down To the work of your hands.

¹⁴I will uproot your Asherim from among you, And destroy your cities.

¹⁵And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath On the nations which have not obeyed.”

¹Now looking intently at the Council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with an entirely good conscience before God up to this day.”

²But the high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law, order me to be struck?”

⁴But those present said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’ ”

⁶But Paul, perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

⁷When he said this, a dissension occurred between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁹And a great uproar occurred; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and started arguing heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹But on the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, “Be courageous! For as you have testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also.”

¹²When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and put themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot.

¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have put ourselves under an oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly; and as for us, we are ready to kill him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul’s sister heard about their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions to himself and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him and led him to the commander and *said, “Paul the prisoner called me over to him and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took him by the hand, and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

²¹So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are in hiding to ambush him, and these men have put themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they kill him; and now they are ready and waiting for assurance from you.”

²²Then the commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

²³And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.”

²⁴They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor.

²⁵And he wrote a letter with the following content:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷When this man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, after learning that he was a Roman.

²⁸And wanting to ascertain the basis for the charges they were bringing against him, I brought him down to their Council;

²⁹and I found that he was being accused regarding questions in their Law, but was not charged with anything deserving death or imprisonment.

³⁰When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.”

³¹So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²But on the next day they let the horsemen go on with him, and they returned to the barracks.

³³When these horsemen had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴Now when he had read it, he also asked from what province Paul was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive as well,” giving orders for Paul to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.