Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;

⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.

⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”

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

¹²Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”

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

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry

¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?”

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

¹⁸In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

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

²²Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

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, and who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.”

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

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

²⁹He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.

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

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.

³⁴When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.

³⁵But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

³⁶Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.

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

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’

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

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

⁴¹They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.

⁴⁴The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

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

⁴⁶They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

¹The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised.

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

³Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.

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

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

⁶Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

⁷And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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

⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.

¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”

¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.

¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes.

¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

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

²⁰God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.

²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do;

²³now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized,

²⁶Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”

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

²⁸Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock.

²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

³⁰He said, “These seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand, in order that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there both of them swore an oath.

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

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

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

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife.

²And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you?

³For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment

⁴in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵you are to hand this man 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 a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?

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

⁸Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons —

¹⁰not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world.

¹¹But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one.

¹²For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge?

¹³God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

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

²to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone.

³For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another.

⁴But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

⁵he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

⁶This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸The saying is sure. I desire that you insist on these things, so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works; these things are excellent and profitable to everyone.

⁹But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

¹⁰After a first and second admonition, have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions,

¹¹since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned.

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

¹³Make every effort to send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way, and see that they lack nothing.

¹⁴And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.

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

¹Then Job answered:

²“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me, and I will speak; then after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me, and be appalled, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

⁶When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and never miscarries.

¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance around.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

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

¹⁴They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger?

¹⁸How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?

²²Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high?

²³One dies in full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure,

²⁴his loins full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of good.

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

²⁷“Oh, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony,

³⁰that the wicked are spared in the day of calamity, and are rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done?

³²When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb.

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to them; everyone will follow after, and those who went before are innumerable.

³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

¹In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults!

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

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

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

⁵His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

⁶You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

⁸Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.

⁹You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

¹⁰You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind.

¹¹If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

¹²For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.

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

¹The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

²All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the LORD weighs the heart.

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

⁴Haughty eyes and a proud heart — the lamp of the wicked — are sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.

⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

⁸The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.

⁹It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

¹⁰The souls of the wicked desire evil; their neighbors find no mercy in their eyes.

¹¹When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wiser; when the wise are instructed, they increase in knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked; he casts the wicked down to ruin.

¹³If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret averts anger; and a concealed bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.

¹⁵When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers.

¹⁶Whoever wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want; whoever loves wine and oil will not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful wife.

²⁰Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.

²¹Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.

²²One wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold in which they trusted.

²³To watch over mouth and tongue is to keep out of trouble.

²⁴The proud, haughty person, named “Scoffer,” acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The craving of the lazy person is fatal, for lazy hands refuse to labor.

²⁶All day long the wicked covet, but the righteous give and do not hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when brought with evil intent.

²⁸A false witness will perish, but a good listener will testify successfully.

²⁹The wicked put on a bold face, but the upright give thought to their ways.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, can avail against the LORD.

³¹The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

¹Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to the priest Eleazar and to Joshua son of Nun and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites;

²they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given towns to live in, along with their pasture lands for our livestock.”

³So by command of the LORD the Israelites gave to the Levites the following towns and pasture lands out of their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten towns from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶The Gershonites received by lot thirteen towns 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 Merarites according to their families received twelve towns from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸These towns and their pasture lands the Israelites gave by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹Out of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon they gave the following towns mentioned by name,

¹⁰which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites who belonged to the Levites, since the lot fell to them first.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasture lands around it.

¹²But the fields of the town and its villages had been given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his holding.

¹³To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands, Libnah with its pasture lands,

¹⁴Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

¹⁵Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

¹⁶Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands — nine towns out of these two tribes.

¹⁷Out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands — four towns.

¹⁹The towns of the descendants of Aaron — the priests — were thirteen in all, with their pasture lands.

²⁰As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite families of the Levites, the towns allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands,

²²Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth-horon with its pasture lands — four towns.

²³Out of the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

²⁴Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands — four towns.

²⁵Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands — two towns.

²⁶The towns of the families of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all, with their pasture lands.

²⁷To the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beeshterah with its pasture lands — two towns.

²⁸Out of the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

²⁹Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En-gannim with its pasture lands — four towns.

³⁰Out of the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

³¹Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands — four towns.

³²Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands — three towns.

³³The towns of the several families of the Gershonites were in all thirteen, with their pasture lands.

³⁴To the rest of the Levites — the Merarite families — were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasture lands, Nahalal with its pasture lands — four towns.

³⁶Out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahzah with its pasture lands,

³⁷Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands — four towns.

³⁸Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

³⁹Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands — four towns in all.

⁴⁰As for the towns of the several Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the families of the Levites, those allotted to them were twelve in all.

⁴¹The towns of the Levites within the holdings of the Israelites were in all forty-eight towns with their pasture lands.

⁴²Each of these towns had its pasture lands around it; so it was with all these towns.

⁴³Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to their ancestors that he would give them; and having taken possession of it, they settled there.

⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands.

⁴⁵Not one of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

¹The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

²A stern vision is told to me; the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam, lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.

³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

⁴My mind reels, horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

⁵They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Rise up, commanders, oil the shield!

⁶For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, post a lookout, let him announce what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.”

⁸Then the watcher called out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed throughout the night.

⁹Look, there they come, riders, horsemen in pairs!” Then he responded, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground.”

¹⁰O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Sentinel, what of the night? Sentinel, what of the night?”

¹²The sentinel says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”

¹³The oracle concerning the desert plain. In the scrub of the desert plain you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴Bring water to the thirsty, meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.

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

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end;

¹⁷and the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

¹When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail.

³We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed

⁶and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day.

⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

¹⁰While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

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

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

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

¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem.

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

¹⁷When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law.

²¹They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

²²What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow.

²⁴Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law.

²⁵But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

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

³⁰Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another; and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers.

³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”

³⁷Just as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” The tribune replied, “Do you know Greek?

³⁸Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence; and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: