Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.

²This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

³So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

⁴Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David,

⁵to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.

⁶While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

⁷Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

¹¹Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

¹²This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

¹⁵When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

¹⁶They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

¹⁷After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child,

¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

¹⁹But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.

²¹When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus  — the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

²²And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

²³(just as it is written in the law of the Lord,Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord )

²⁴and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons ).

²⁵There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.

²⁷Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform for him what was customary under the law,

²⁸Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said,

²⁹Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised.

³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation.

³¹You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples —

³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.

³³His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and told his mother Mary: “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed  —

³⁵and a sword will pierce your own soul — that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

³⁷and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers.

³⁸At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

⁴⁰The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was on him.

⁴¹Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the festival.

⁴³After those days were over, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.

⁴⁴Assuming he was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

⁴⁶After three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹“Why were you searching for me?” he asked them. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?”

⁵⁰But they did not understand what he said to them.

⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

¹Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

²These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

⁵Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

⁷There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

¹¹His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!

²⁰So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

²²Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him” — intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

²⁴Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

²⁵They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

²⁷Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.

²⁸When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

³⁰He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

³³His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.

¹Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household.

³For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.

⁴Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

⁶But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works

¹⁰for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.”

¹¹So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”

¹²Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

¹³But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

¹⁴For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

¹⁵As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

¹⁶For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

¹⁷With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed?

¹⁹So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.

²Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation,

³if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to him, a living stone — rejected by people but chosen and honored by God —

⁵you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

⁷So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected — this one has become the cornerstone,

⁸and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

¹²Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.

¹³Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority

¹⁴or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.

¹⁵For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.

¹⁶Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

¹⁷Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence not only to the good and gentle ones but also to the cruel.

¹⁹For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.

²⁰For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

²¹For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

²²He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth;

²³when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

²⁵For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

¹Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:

²Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?

³Get ready to answer me like a man; when I question you, you will inform me.

⁴Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone

⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garment and total darkness its blanket,

¹⁰when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place,

¹¹when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?

¹²Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,

¹³so it may seize the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth is changed as clay is by a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised in violence is broken.

¹⁶Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the extent of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where darkness lives,

²⁰so you can lead it back to its border? Are you familiar with the paths to its home?

²¹Don’t you know? You were already born; you have lived so long!

²²Have you entered the place where the snow is stored? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail,

²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle?

²⁴What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain or clears the way for lightning,

²⁶to bring rain on an uninhabited land, on a desert with no human life,

²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grass to sprout?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who fathered the drops of dew?

²⁹Whose womb did the ice come from? Who gave birth to the frost of heaven

³⁰when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?

³¹Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

³²Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you impose its authority on earth?

³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?

³⁵Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Do they report to you: “Here we are”?

³⁶Who put wisdom in the heart or gave the mind understanding?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven

³⁸when the dust hardens like cast metal and the clods of dirt stick together?

³⁹Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of young lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait within their lairs?

⁴¹Who provides the raven’s food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

¹A of Asaph. [1] Why have you rejected us forever, God? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation, which you purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe for your own possession. Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.

³Make your way to the perpetual ruins, to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.

⁴Your adversaries roared in the meeting place where you met with us. They set up their emblems as signs.

⁵It was like men in a thicket of trees, wielding axes,

⁶then smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire; they utterly desecrated the dwelling place of your name.

⁸They said in their hearts, “Let us oppress them relentlessly.” They burned every place throughout the land where God met with us.

⁹There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer a prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹⁰God, how long will the enemy mock? Will the foe insult your name forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand? Stretch out your right hand and destroy them!

¹²God my King is from ancient times, performing saving acts on the earth.

¹³You divided the sea with your strength; you smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the water;

¹⁴you crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵You opened up springs and streams; you dried up ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶The day is yours, also the night; you established the moon and the sun.

¹⁷You set all the boundaries of the earth; you made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this: the enemy has mocked the LORD, and a foolish people has insulted your name.

¹⁹Do not give to beasts the life of your dove; do not forget the lives of your poor people forever.

²⁰Consider the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence.

²¹Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Rise up, God, champion your cause! Remember the insults that fools bring against you all day long.

²³Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries, the tumult of your opponents that goes up constantly.

¹My son, obey my words, and treasure my commands.

²Keep my commands and live, and guard my instructions as you would the pupil of your eye.

³Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your relative.

⁵She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a wayward woman with her flattering talk.

⁶At the window of my house I looked through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the inexperienced, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking sense.

⁸Crossing the street near her corner, he strolled down the road to her house

⁹at twilight, in the evening, in the dark of the night.

¹⁰A woman came to meet him dressed like a prostitute, having a hidden agenda.

¹¹She is loud and defiant; her feet do not stay at home.

¹²Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.

¹³She grabs him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him,

¹⁴“I’ve made fellowship offerings; today I’ve fulfilled my vows.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you, to search for you, and I’ve found you.

¹⁶I’ve spread coverings on my bed  — richly colored linen from Egypt.

¹⁷I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning. Let’s feast on each other’s love!

¹⁹My husband isn’t home; he went on a long journey.

²⁰He took a bag of silver with him and will come home at the time of the full moon.”

²¹She seduces him with her persistent pleading; she lures with her flattering talk.

²²He follows her impulsively like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding toward a trap

²³until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird darting into a snare  — he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words from my mouth.

²⁵Don’t let your heart turn aside to her ways; don’t stray onto her paths.

²⁶For she has brought many down to death; her victims are countless.

²⁷Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

¹These are the family heads and the genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

²Gershom, from Phinehas’s descendants; Daniel, from Ithamar’s descendants; Hattush, from David’s descendants,

³who was of Shecaniah’s descendants; Zechariah, from Parosh’s descendants, and 150 men with him who were registered by genealogy;

⁴Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah from Pahath-moab’s descendants, and 200 men with him;

⁵Shecaniah son of Jahaziel from Zattu’s descendants, and 300 men with him;

⁶Ebed son of Jonathan from Adin’s descendants, and 50 men with him;

⁷Jeshaiah son of Athaliah from Elam’s descendants, and 70 men with him;

⁸Zebadiah son of Michael from Shephatiah’s descendants, and 80 men with him;

⁹Obadiah son of Jehiel from Joab’s descendants, and 218 men with him;

¹⁰Shelomith son of Josiphiah from Bani’s descendants, and 160 men with him;

¹¹Zechariah son of Bebai from Bebai’s descendants, and 28 men with him;

¹²Johanan son of Hakkatan from Azgad’s descendants, and 110 men with him;

¹³these are the last ones, from Adonikam’s descendants, and their names are Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and 60 men with them;

¹⁴Uthai and Zaccur from Bigvai’s descendants, and 70 men with them.

¹⁵I gathered them at the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I searched among the people and priests, but found no Levites there.

¹⁶Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.

¹⁷I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his brothers, the temple servants at Casiphia, that they should bring us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁸Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah  — a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli, a descendant of Levi son of Israel — along with his sons and brothers, 18 men,

¹⁹plus Hashabiah, along with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.

²⁰There were also 220 of the temple servants, who had been appointed by David and the leaders for the work of the Levites. All were identified by name.

²¹I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us, our dependents, and all our possessions.

²²I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his fierce anger is against all who abandon him.”

²³So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he was receptive to our prayer.

²⁴I selected twelve of the leading priests, along with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers.

²⁵I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles — the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites who were present had offered.

²⁶I weighed out to them 24 tons of silver, silver articles weighing 7,500 pounds, 7,500 pounds of gold,

²⁷twenty gold bowls worth a thousand gold coins, and two articles of fine gleaming bronze, as valuable as gold.

²⁸Then I said to them, “You are holy to the LORD, and the articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers.

²⁹Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the LORD’s house before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families in Jerusalem.”

³⁰So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the articles that had been weighed out, to bring them to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

³¹We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. We were strengthened by our God, and he kept us from the grasp of the enemy and from ambush along the way.

³²So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

³³On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the articles were weighed out in the house of our God into the care of the priest Meremoth son of Uriah. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him. The Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui were also with them.

³⁴Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵The exiles who had returned from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, and seventy-seven lambs, along with twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering for the LORD.

³⁶They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates, so that they would support the people and the house of God.

¹Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

³As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

²⁰For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah

²⁶when he said, Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

²⁷For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,

³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.