Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables:

²“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

³He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come.

⁴Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business,

⁶while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’

¹⁰So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.

¹¹When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.

¹²So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

¹³“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said.

¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality.

¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites?

¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius.

²⁰“Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.

²¹“Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²²When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

²³That same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and questioned him:

²⁴“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.

²⁶The same thing happened to the second also, and the third, and so on to all seven.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.

³¹Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:

³²I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.

³⁵And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him:

³⁶“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

³⁷He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

³⁸This is the greatest and most important command.

³⁹The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

⁴¹While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them,

⁴²“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “David’s.”

⁴³He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’

⁴⁴ The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’?

⁴⁵“If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how then can he be his son?”

⁴⁶No one was able to answer him at all, and from that day no one dared to question him anymore.

¹After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

²“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

³So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.

⁷Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

⁹When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

¹⁰Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”

¹²Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹³Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

¹⁴And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the LORD’s mountain.”

¹⁵Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven

¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the LORD’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,

¹⁷I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.

¹⁸And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

¹⁹Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

²⁰Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

²³And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels — how much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

⁶Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat — and you do this to brothers and sisters!

⁹Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,

¹⁰no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

¹¹And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

¹⁶Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

¹⁷But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

¹⁹Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dear friend and coworker,

²to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home.

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers,

⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus.

⁶I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ.

⁷For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

⁸For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right,

⁹I appeal to you, instead, on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus,

¹⁰appeal to you for my son, Onesimus. I became his father while I was in chains.

¹¹Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.

¹²I am sending him back to you — I am sending my very own heart.

¹³I wanted to keep him with me, so that in my imprisonment for the gospel he might serve me in your place.

¹⁴But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will.

¹⁵For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a brief time, so that you might get him back permanently,

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but more than a slave — as a dearly loved brother. He is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would me.

¹⁸And if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it — not to mention to you that you owe me even your very self.

²⁰Yes, brother, may I benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

²²Meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, since I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do

²⁴Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers.

²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to him?

³Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does he profit if you perfect your behavior?

⁴Does he correct you and take you to court because of your piety?

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,

⁸while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹²Isn’t God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars — how lofty they are!

¹³Yet you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through total darkness?

¹⁴Clouds veil him so that he cannot see, as he walks on the circle of the sky.”

¹⁵Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were washed away by a river.

¹⁷They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!” and “What can the Almighty do to us?”

¹⁸But it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind.”

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and place his sayings in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir to the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,” God will save the humble.

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.

¹For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David. [1] My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?

²My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest.

³But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

⁴Our fathers trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them.

⁵They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people.

⁷Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads:

⁸“He relies on the LORD; let him save him; let the LORD rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.”

⁹It was you who brought me out of the womb, making me secure at my mother’s breast.

¹⁰I was given over to you at birth; you have been my God from my mother’s womb.

¹¹Don’t be far from me, because distress is near and there’s no one to help.

¹²Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me.

¹³They open their mouths against me — lions, mauling and roaring.

¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me.

¹⁵My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death.

¹⁶For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet.

¹⁷I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me.

¹⁸They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹But you, LORD, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me.

²⁰Rescue my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs.

²¹Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of wild oxen. You answered me!

²²I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the assembly.

²³You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, revere him!

²⁴For he has not despised or abhorred the torment of the oppressed. He did not hide his face from him but listened when he cried to him for help.

²⁵I will give praise in the great assembly because of you; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear you.

²⁶The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him. May your hearts live forever!

²⁷All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before you,

²⁸for kingship belongs to the LORD; he rules the nations.

²⁹All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before him — even the one who cannot preserve his life.

³⁰Their descendants will serve him; the next generation will be told about the Lord.

³¹They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹Joshua summoned the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh

²and told them, “You have done everything Moses the LORD’s servant commanded you and have obeyed me in everything I commanded you.

³You have not deserted your brothers even once this whole time but have carried out the requirement of the command of the LORD your God.

⁴Now that he has given your brothers rest, just as he promised them, return to your homes in your own land that Moses the LORD’s servant gave you across the Jordan.

⁵Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the LORD’s servant gave you: to love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”

⁶Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

⁷Moses had given territory to half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, but Joshua had given territory to the other half, with their brothers, on the west side of the Jordan. When Joshua sent them to their homes and blessed them,

⁸he said, “Return to your homes with great wealth: a huge number of cattle, and silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a large quantity of clothing. Share the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”

⁹The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they took possession of according to the LORD’s command through Moses.

¹⁰When they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.

¹¹Then the Israelites heard it said, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of the Jordan, on the Israelite side.”

¹²When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.

¹⁴They sent ten leaders with him — one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their ancestral families among the clans of Israel.

¹⁵They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them,

¹⁶“This is what the LORD’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the LORD today?

¹⁷Wasn’t the iniquity of Peor, which brought a plague on the LORD’s community, enough for us? We have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,

¹⁸and now would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the entire community of Israel.

¹⁹But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the LORD possesses where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don’t rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.

²⁰Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his iniquity.’”

²¹The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the Israelite clans,

²²“The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows, and may Israel also know. Do not spare us today, if it was in rebellion or treachery against the LORD

²³that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from him. May the LORD himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it.

²⁴We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the LORD, the God of Israel?

²⁵For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the LORD! ’ So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the LORD.

²⁶“Therefore we said: Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice.

²⁷Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings. Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’

²⁸We thought that if they said this to us or to our generations in the future, we would reply: Look at the replica of the LORD’s altar that our fathers made, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.

²⁹We would never ever rebel against the LORD or turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which is in front of his tabernacle.”

³⁰When the priest Phinehas and the community leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.

³¹Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against him. As a result, you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD’s power.”

³²Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them.

³³The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they blessed God. They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

³⁴So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar: It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.

¹A pronouncement concerning the Valley of Vision: What’s the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?

²The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with celebration. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.

³All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away.

⁴Therefore I said, “Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people.”

⁵For the Lord GOD of Armies had a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion in the Valley of Vision — people shouting and crying to the mountains;

⁶Elam took up a quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷Your best valleys were full of chariots, and horsemen were positioned at the city gates.

⁸He removed the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

⁹You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

¹⁰You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.

¹¹You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the one who made it, or consider the one who created it long ago.

¹²On that day the Lord GOD of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.

¹³But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats, eating of meat, and drinking of wine — “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The LORD of Armies has directly revealed to me: “This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live.” The Lord GOD of Armies has spoken.

¹⁵The Lord GOD of Armies said: “Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him:

¹⁶What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for yourself out of rock?

¹⁷Look, you strong man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

¹⁸wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be — a disgrace to the house of your lord.

¹⁹I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰“On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

²¹I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will hand your authority over to him, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

²²I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

²³I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father’s family.

²⁴They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s family: the descendants and the offshoots — all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

²⁵On that day” — the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”

²When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.

³He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,

⁵as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹“Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus.

¹²Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,

¹³came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth,

¹⁵since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten.

²⁰And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’

²¹“He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”

²³As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said.

²⁸The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.