Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,

²telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her foal. Untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

⁴This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁵Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them.

⁷They brought the donkey and its foal; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them.

⁸A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

⁹Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

¹³He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

¹⁵When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple,” Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant

¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?”

¹⁷Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.

¹⁹Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.

²²And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

²³When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him? ’

²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John to be a prophet.”

²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’

²⁹“He answered, ‘I don’t want to’ but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go.

³¹Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.

³⁴When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit.

³⁵The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them.

³⁷Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’

³⁹So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

⁴¹“He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is what the Lord has done and it is wonderful in our eyes?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.

⁴⁴Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was speaking about them.

⁴⁶Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.

¹The LORD came to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

²Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.

³Abraham named his son who was born to him — the one Sarah bore to him — Isaac.

⁴When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

⁷She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

⁸The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

⁹But Sarah saw the son mocking — the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.

¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”

¹¹This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,

¹³and I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes

¹⁶and went and sat at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” While she sat at a distance, she wept loudly.

¹⁷God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.

¹⁸Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer.

²¹He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

²³Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

²⁶Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

²⁷Abraham took flocks and herds and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

²⁸Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock.

²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?”

³⁰He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from me so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

³²After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

³⁴And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles  — a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

²And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?

³Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.

⁴When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?

⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.

¹¹But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

¹²For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?

¹³God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.

¹Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

²to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people.

³For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

⁵he saved us  —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy  — through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

⁶He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior

⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

⁸This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

⁹But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless.

¹⁰Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.

¹¹For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.

¹²When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me in Nicopolis, because I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, so that they will lack nothing.

¹⁴Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All those who are with me send you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with all of you.

¹Then Job answered:

²Pay close attention to my words; let this be the consolation you offer.

³Bear with me while I speak; then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking.

⁴As for me, is my complaint against a human being? Then why shouldn’t I be impatient?

⁵Look at me and shudder; put your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I think about it, I am terrified and my body trembles in horror.

⁷Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful?

⁸Their children are established while they are still alive, and their descendants, before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are secure and free of fear; no rod from God strikes them.

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹They let their little ones run around like lambs; their children skip about,

¹²singing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoicing at the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, “Leave us alone! We don’t want to know your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him, and what will we gain by pleading with him?”

¹⁶But their prosperity is not of their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does he apportion destruction in his anger?

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away?

¹⁹God reserves a person’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it.

²⁰Let his own eyes see his demise; let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!

²¹For what does he care about his family once he is dead, when the number of his months has run out?

²²Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges the exalted ones?

²³One person dies in excellent health, completely secure and at ease.

²⁴His body is well fed, and his bones are full of marrow.

²⁵Yet another person dies with a bitter soul, having never tasted prosperity.

²⁶But they both lie in the dust, and worms cover them.

²⁷I know your thoughts very well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, “Where now is the nobleman’s house?” and “Where are the tents the wicked lived in?”

²⁹Have you never consulted those who travel the roads? Don’t you accept their reports?

³⁰Indeed, the evil person is spared from the day of disaster, rescued from the day of wrath.

³¹Who would denounce his behavior to his face? Who would repay him for what he has done?

³²He is carried to the grave, and someone keeps watch over his tomb.

³³The dirt on his grave is sweet to him. Everyone follows behind him, and those who go before him are without number.

³⁴So how can you offer me such futile comfort? Your answers are deceptive.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] LORD, the king finds joy in your strength. How greatly he rejoices in your victory!

²You have given him his heart’s desire and have not denied the request of his lips. Selah

³For you meet him with rich blessings; you place a crown of pure gold on his head.

⁴He asked you for life, and you gave it to him — length of days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great through your victory; you confer majesty and splendor on him.

⁶You give him blessings forever; you cheer him with joy in your presence.

⁷For the king relies on the LORD; through the faithful love of the Most High he is not shaken.

⁸Your hand will capture all your enemies; your right hand will seize those who hate you.

⁹You will make them burn like a fiery furnace when you appear; the LORD will engulf them in his wrath, and fire will devour them.

¹⁰You will wipe their progeny from the earth and their offspring from the human race.

¹¹Though they intend to harm you and devise a wicked plan, they will not prevail.

¹²Instead, you will put them to flight when you ready your bowstrings to shoot at them.

¹³Be exalted, LORD, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might.

¹A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.

²All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs hearts.

³Doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart  — is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.

⁶Making a fortune through a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a pursuit of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to act justly.

⁸A guilty one’s conduct is crooked, but the behavior of the innocent is upright.

⁹Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

¹⁰A wicked person desires evil; he has no consideration for his neighbor.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the inexperienced become wiser; when one teaches a wise man, he acquires knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; he brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out and not be answered.

¹⁴A secret gift soothes anger, and a covert bribe, fierce rage.

¹⁵Justice executed is a joy to the righteous but a terror to those who practice iniquity.

¹⁶The person who strays from the way of prudence will come to rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

¹⁷The one who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.

¹⁸The wicked are a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous, for the upright.

¹⁹Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

²⁰Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a fool consumes them.

²¹The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down its secure fortress.

²³The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

²⁴The arrogant and proud person, named “Mocker,” acts with excessive arrogance.

²⁵A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶He is filled with craving all day long, but the righteous give and don’t hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of a wicked person is detestable — how much more so when he brings it with ulterior motives!

²⁸A lying witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak successfully.

²⁹A wicked person puts on a bold face, but the upright one considers his way.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel will prevail against the LORD.

³¹A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the LORD.

¹The Levite family heads approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes.

²At Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, they told them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So the Israelites, by the LORD’s command, gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands from their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the Kohathite clans: The Levites who were the descendants of the priest Aaron received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶Gershon’s descendants received thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷Merari’s descendants received twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸The Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands around them to the Levites by lot, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹The Israelites gave these cities by name from the tribes of the descendants of Judah and Simeon

¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because they received the first lot.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak) with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Judah.

¹²But they gave the fields and settlements of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³They gave to the descendants of the priest Aaron: Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands,

¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,

¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,

¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands — nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin they gave: Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands — four cities.

¹⁹All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

²⁰The allotted cities to the remaining clans of Kohath’s descendants, who were Levites, came from the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹The Israelites gave them: Shechem, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,

²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands — four cities.

²³From the tribe of Dan they gave: Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands,

²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands — four cities.

²⁵From half the tribe of Manasseh they gave: Taanach with its pasturelands and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands — two cities.

²⁶All ten cities with their pasturelands were for the clans of Kohath’s other descendants.

²⁷From half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave to the descendants of Gershon, who were one of the Levite clans: Golan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in Bashan, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands — two cities.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they gave: Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,

²⁹Jarmuth with its pasturelands, and En-gannim with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they gave: Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands — four cities.

³²From the tribe of Naphtali they gave: Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands — three cities.

³³All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the Gershonites by their clans.

³⁴From the tribe of Zebulun, they gave to the clans of the descendants of Merari, who were the remaining Levites: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they gave: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,

³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁸From the tribe of Gad they gave: Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

³⁹Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands — four cities in all.

⁴⁰All twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari’s descendants, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹Within the Israelite possession there were forty-eight cities in all with their pasturelands for the Levites.

⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

⁴³So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there.

⁴⁴The LORD gave them rest on every side according to all he had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the LORD handed over all their enemies to them.

⁴⁵None of the good promises the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.

¹A pronouncement concerning the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

²A troubling vision is declared to me: “The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning.”

³Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.

⁴My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror.

⁵Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

⁶For the Lord has said to me, “Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders — pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels — he must pay close attention.”

⁸Then the lookout reported, “Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.

⁹Look, riders come — horsemen in pairs.” And he answered, saying, “Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the images of her gods have been shattered on the ground.”

¹⁰My people who have been crushed on the threshing floor, I have declared to you what I have heard from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel.

¹¹A pronouncement concerning Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹²The watchman said, “Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again.”

¹³A pronouncement concerning Arabia: In the desert brush you will camp for the night, you caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴Bring water for the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the refugees with food.

¹⁵For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bow that is strung, and from the stress of battle.

¹⁶For the Lord said this to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

¹⁷The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

¹After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail.

³After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray,

⁶we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.

⁹This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

²¹But they have been informed about you — that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

²²So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.

²³Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.

²⁵With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.

³²Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?

³⁸Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic: