Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.

³And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

⁴All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

⁶So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.

⁷They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.

⁸And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

¹²Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

¹³And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

¹⁴Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant

¹⁶and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

¹⁷Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

¹⁸Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

²⁰And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

²¹So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

²²And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

²³Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

²⁴But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:

²⁵The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.”

²⁷So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’

²⁹He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.

³⁰Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

³³“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

³⁴Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

³⁵And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

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

³⁷Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

³⁹So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

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

⁴¹They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

⁴⁴And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

⁴⁵Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.

⁴⁶But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

¹And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.

²For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

³And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him— Isaac.

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

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

⁶And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”

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

⁸So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.

¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”

¹¹And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

¹³Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.

¹⁶Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.

²⁰So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

²¹He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.

²³Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized.

²⁶And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

²⁸And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”

³¹Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³²Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

³⁴And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!

²And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

³For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁵deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

⁷Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

¹¹But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person.

¹²For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

¹³But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

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

²to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

³For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

⁴But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

⁵not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

⁶whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

⁹But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

¹⁰Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,

¹¹knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

¹²When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing.

¹⁴And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

⁴“As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

¹⁸They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.

¹⁹They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half?

²²“Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?

²³One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure;

²⁴His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.

²⁷“Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs?

³⁰For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

³¹Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?

³²Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him.

³⁴How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. [1] The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

²You have given him his heart’s desire, And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

³For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.

⁴He asked life from You, and You gave it to him— Length of days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.

⁶For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the LORD, And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.

⁸Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You.

⁹You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath, And the fire shall devour them.

¹⁰Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men.

¹¹For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.

¹²Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.

¹³Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.

¹The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.

³To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

⁶Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will destroy them, Because they refuse to do justice.

⁸The way of a guilty man is perverse; But as for the pure, his work is right.

⁹Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.

¹¹When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise; But when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

¹²The righteous God wisely considers the house of the wicked, Overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness.

¹³Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger, And a bribe behind the back, strong wrath.

¹⁵It is a joy for the just to do justice, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, And the unfaithful for the upright.

¹⁹Better to dwell in the wilderness, Than with a contentious and angry woman.

²⁰There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.

²¹He who follows righteousness and mercy Finds life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the trusted stronghold.

²³Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.

²⁴A proud and haughty man— “Scoffer” is his name; He acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The desire of the lazy man kills him, For his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶He covets greedily all day long, But the righteous gives and does not spare.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; How much more when he brings it with wicked intent!

²⁸A false witness shall perish, But the man who hears him will speak endlessly.

²⁹A wicked man hardens his face, But as for the upright, he establishes his way.

³⁰There is no wisdom or understanding Or counsel against the LORD.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the LORD.

¹Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.”

³So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their common-lands:

⁴Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶And the children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded by the hand of Moses.

⁹So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are designated by name,

¹⁰which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first.

¹¹And they gave them Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak), which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it.

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

¹³Thus to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Libnah with its common-land,

¹⁴Jattir with its common-land, Eshtemoa with its common-land,

¹⁵Holon with its common-land, Debir with its common-land,

¹⁶Ain with its common-land, Juttah with its common-land, and Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes;

¹⁷and from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its common-land, Geba with its common-land,

¹⁸Anathoth with its common-land, and Almon with its common-land: four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

²⁰And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot from the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹For they gave them Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), Gezer with its common-land,

²²Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities;

²³and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land,

²⁴Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities;

²⁵and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities.

²⁶All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

²⁷Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities;

²⁸and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land,

²⁹Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities;

³⁰and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land,

³¹Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities;

³²and from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities.

³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

³⁴And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land,

³⁵Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities;

³⁶and from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land,

³⁷Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities;

³⁸and from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land,

³⁹Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all.

⁴⁰So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands.

⁴²Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

⁴³So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.

⁴⁴The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

¹The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

²A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease.

³Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it.

⁴My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

⁵Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield!

⁶For thus has the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.”

⁷And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, And he listened earnestly with great care.

⁸Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night.

⁹And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.”

¹⁰Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you.

¹¹The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

¹²The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back!”

¹³The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites.

¹⁴O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Bring water to him who is thirsty; With their bread they met him who fled.

¹⁵For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.

¹⁶For thus the LORD has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail;

¹⁷and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.”

¹Now it came to pass, that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

⁴And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

⁵When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.

⁶When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day.

⁸On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

¹⁵And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.

¹⁷And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

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

¹⁹When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;

²¹but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

²²What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.

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

²⁴Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.

²⁵But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

²⁷Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

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

³⁰And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

³⁶For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!”

³⁷Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek?

³⁸Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,