Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.

²And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”

³And the chief priests accused him of many things.

⁴And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.”

⁵But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.

⁷And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

⁸And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.

⁹And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

¹⁰For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.

¹²And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”

¹⁴And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”

¹⁵So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

¹⁶And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.

¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.

¹⁸And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

¹⁹And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.

²⁰And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

²¹And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

²²And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).

²³And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

²⁴And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.

²⁵And it was the third hour when they crucified him.

²⁶And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”

²⁷And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁸

²⁹And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

³¹So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.

³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

³³And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

³⁵And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”

³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”

³⁷And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.

³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

³⁹And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.

⁴¹When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.

⁴⁵And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

⁴⁶And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

¹Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.

²And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her.

³And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.

⁴So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

⁷The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.

⁸But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.

⁹Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.”

¹¹Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.

¹²Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

¹³The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

¹⁴They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

¹⁵Only on this condition will we agree with you — that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised.

¹⁶Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people.

¹⁷But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

¹⁸Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem.

¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,

²¹“These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters.

²²Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people — when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.

²³Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.”

²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away.

²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

²⁸They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

²⁹All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”

³¹But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

¹Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

²Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

³At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison —

⁴that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

⁶Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

⁷Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

⁸I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts,

⁹and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions — if he comes to you, welcome him),

¹¹and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

¹³For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.

¹⁴Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.

¹⁵Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

¹⁶And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

¹⁷And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

¹⁸I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

⁶But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

¹²There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” —

¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

¹And Elihu answered and said:

²“Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’

³that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

⁴I will answer you and your friends with you.

⁵Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,

¹¹who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

¹²There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!

¹⁵And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,

¹⁶Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!

³Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.

¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together

¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.

¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

¹⁸So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

²⁰You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

²¹You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.

²⁴And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.

¹Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

²for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.

³When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

⁴he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

⁵Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.

⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.

¹¹I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

¹²When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.

¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

²⁰My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

²³Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

²⁴Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

²⁶Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

²⁷Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

¹Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

³At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?”

⁴They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?”

⁵But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

⁶This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

⁷They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace.

⁸Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.

⁹Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’

¹⁰We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders.

¹¹And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

¹²But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.

¹³However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt.

¹⁴And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;

¹⁵and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.”

¹⁶Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’

¹⁷Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

¹Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.

²The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.

³Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

⁴The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.

⁵Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;

⁶for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

⁷But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

⁸Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

⁹I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

¹¹A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

¹²In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

¹³But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.

¹⁵As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.

¹⁶The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf;

¹⁷they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

¹Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

²And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him,

³asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem — because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.

⁴Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

⁵“So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”

⁶After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

⁷When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove.

⁸Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

⁹But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?”

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well.

¹¹If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus.

¹⁴And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, “There is a man left prisoner by Felix,

¹⁵and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

¹⁶I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him.

¹⁷So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed.

¹⁹Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them.

²¹But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” said he, “you will hear him.”

²³So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had done nothing deserving death. And as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him.

²⁶But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him.”