Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:

²“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

³He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.

⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business,

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

⁷The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

⁸Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

⁹Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’

¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,

¹²and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.

¹³Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.

¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.

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

¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?

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

²⁰Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?”

²¹They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

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

²³The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying,

²⁴“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.’

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother.

²⁶The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷Last of all, the woman herself died.

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

²⁹Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

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

³¹And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God,

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

³³And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

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

³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

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

³⁷He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment.

³⁹And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:

⁴²“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”

⁴³He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

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

⁴⁵If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”

⁴⁶No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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

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

³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.

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

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

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

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

⁹When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

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

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

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

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

¹⁴So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

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

¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies,

¹⁸and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.

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

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

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

²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints?

²Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

³Do you not know that we are to judge angels — to say nothing of ordinary matters?

⁴If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another,

⁶but a believer goes to court against a believer — and before unbelievers at that?

⁷In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸But you yourselves wrong and defraud — and believers at that.

⁹Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,

¹⁰thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers — none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

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

¹²“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

¹³“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

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

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

¹⁶Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.”

¹⁷But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself.

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?

²⁰For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker,

²to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

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

⁴When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God

⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.

⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ.

⁷I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

⁸For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty,

⁹yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love — and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

¹⁰I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.

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

¹²I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.

¹³I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel;

¹⁴but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.

¹⁵Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever,

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

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

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

¹⁹I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.

²⁰Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ.

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

²²One thing more — prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,

²⁴and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

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

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,

²⁴if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver,

²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.

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

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble.

³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

²O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

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

⁴In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.

⁵To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

⁸“Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver — let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

⁹Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

¹⁰On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

¹¹Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

¹³they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;

¹⁵my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;

¹⁷I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;

¹⁸they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!

²¹Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

²²I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

²³You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

²⁴For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

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

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

²⁸For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

²⁹To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.

³⁰Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,

³¹and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.

³The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

⁴The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; the cautious will keep far from them.

⁶Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.

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

⁸Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.

⁹Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out; quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech will have the king as a friend.

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

¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry falls into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.

¹⁷The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching;

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today — yes, to you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings of admonition and knowledge,

²¹to show you what is right and true, so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;

²³for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

²⁴Make no friends with those given to anger, and do not associate with hotheads,

²⁵or you may learn their ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Do not be one of those who give pledges, who become surety for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not remove the ancient landmark that your ancestors set up.

²⁹Do you see those who are skillful in their work? They will serve kings; they will not serve common people.

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

²and said to them, “You have observed all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed me in all that I have commanded you;

³you have not forsaken your kindred these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the LORD your God.

⁴And now the LORD your God has given rest to your kindred, as he promised them; therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

⁵Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan; but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their fellow Israelites in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their tents and blessed them,

⁸he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth, and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with a great quantity of clothing; divide the spoil of your enemies with your kindred.”

⁹So the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the Israelites at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had taken possession by command of the LORD through Moses.

¹⁰When they came to the region near the Jordan that lies in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of great size.

¹¹The Israelites heard that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region near the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the Israelites.

¹²And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh, to make war against them.

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

¹⁴and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel.

¹⁵They came to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,

¹⁶“Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, ‘What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away today from following the LORD, by building yourselves an altar today in rebellion against the LORD?

¹⁷Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which a plague came upon the congregation of the LORD,

¹⁸that you must turn away today from following the LORD! If you rebel against the LORD today, he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.

¹⁹But now, if your land is unclean, cross over into the LORD’s land where the LORD’s tabernacle now stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel against the LORD, or rebel against us by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.

²⁰Did not Achan son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity!’”

²¹Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,

²²“The LORD, God of gods! The LORD, God of gods! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith toward the LORD, do not spare us today

²³for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or offerings of well-being on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance.

²⁴No! We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

²⁵For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the LORD.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD.

²⁶Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,

²⁷but to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and offerings of well-being; so that your children may never say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the LORD.”’

²⁸And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we could say, ‘Look at this copy of the altar of the LORD, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.’

²⁹Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

³⁰When the priest Phinehas and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites spoke, they were satisfied.

³¹The priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the LORD; now you have saved the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”

³²Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and brought back word to them.

³³The report pleased the Israelites; and the Israelites blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them, to destroy the land where the Reubenites and the Gadites were settled.

³⁴The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness; “For,” said they, “it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

¹The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,

²you that are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain by the sword, nor are they dead in battle.

³Your rulers have all fled together; they were captured without the use of a bow. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.

⁴Therefore I said: Look away from me, let me weep bitter tears; do not try to comfort me for the destruction of my beloved people.

⁵For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a cry for help to the mountains.

⁶Elam bore the quiver with chariots and cavalry, and Kir uncovered the shield.

⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the cavalry took their stand at the gates.

⁸He has taken away the covering of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,

⁹and you saw that there were many breaches in the city of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool.

¹⁰You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

¹¹You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.

¹²In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth;

¹³but instead there was joy and festivity, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

¹⁴The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him:

¹⁶What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock?

¹⁷The LORD is about to hurl you away violently, my fellow. He will seize firm hold on you,

¹⁸whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there your splendid chariots shall lie, O you disgrace to your master’s house!

¹⁹I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.

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

²¹and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

²²I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open.

²³I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.

²⁴And they will hang on him the whole weight of his ancestral house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.

²⁵On that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way; it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will perish, for the LORD has spoken.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you.”

²When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet. Then he said:

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

⁴I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison,

⁵as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

⁶“While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.

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

⁸I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’

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

¹⁰I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’

¹¹Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus.

¹²“A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there,

¹³came to me; and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him.

¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice;

¹⁵for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’

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

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

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

²⁰And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.’

²¹Then he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

²²Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”

²³And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him.

²⁵But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The tribune came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

³⁰Since he wanted to find out what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.