Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,

²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

³Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

⁴For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

⁵But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

⁶They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

⁷greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

⁸But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.

⁹Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

¹⁰And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

¹¹But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

¹²And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

¹⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’

¹⁷Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

¹⁹Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

²⁰Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.

²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.

²²And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

²⁴Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

²⁶Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

³⁰and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

³²Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

³³Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

³⁴Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

³⁵that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

³⁶Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate;

³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ”

¹Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

²So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

⁶“Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.

⁸And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me,

⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”

¹⁰Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying,

¹¹“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

¹²Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land;

¹³and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

¹⁵“My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.”

¹⁶And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded

¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

²⁰So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

¹Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

²Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

³Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

⁴The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment.

⁷For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am;

⁹but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband.

¹¹But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹²But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.

¹³And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

¹⁶For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

²⁰Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

²¹Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.

²²For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.

²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

²⁴Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

²⁵Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.

²⁶I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress— that it is good for a man to remain as he is:

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,

³⁰those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,

³¹and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.

³²But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord.

³³But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife.

³⁴There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.

³⁵And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

³⁶But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry.

³⁷Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well.

³⁸So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.

³⁹A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But she is happier if she remains as she is, according to my judgment—and I think I also have the Spirit of God.

¹James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

²My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

³knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

⁴But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,

¹⁰but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.

¹¹For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

¹²Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

¹⁵Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

¹⁸Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

¹⁹So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

²⁰for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

²¹Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

²⁵But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

⁴I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me.

⁶Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me.

⁷There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸“Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

⁹When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

¹⁰But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

¹³“But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.

¹⁴For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

¹⁶For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me;

¹⁷Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

¹A Psalm of David. [1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

³He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

¹When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;

²And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.

⁴Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!

⁵Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

¹¹For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

¹⁶Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;

¹⁸For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.

²⁰Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

²²Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.

²⁸She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.

³¹Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;

³²At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.

³⁴Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

³⁵“They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”

¹Now it came to pass, a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age.

²And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them: “I am old, advanced in age.

³You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has fought for you.

⁴See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward.

⁵And the LORD your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you.

⁶Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,

⁷and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them,

⁸but you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.

⁹For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day.

¹⁰One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.

¹¹Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.

¹²Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,

¹³know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁴“Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.

¹⁵Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁶When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”

¹The burden against Tyre. Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, So that there is no house, no harbor; From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.

²Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon, Whom those who cross the sea have filled.

³And on great waters the grain of Shihor, The harvest of the River, is her revenue; And she is a marketplace for the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea has spoken, The strength of the sea, saying, “I do not labor, nor bring forth children; Neither do I rear young men, Nor bring up virgins.”

⁵When the report reaches Egypt, They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish; Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland!

⁷Is this your joyous city, Whose antiquity is from ancient days, Whose feet carried her far off to dwell?

⁸Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, Whose merchants are princes, Whose traders are the honorable of the earth?

⁹The LORD of hosts has purposed it, To bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

¹⁰Overflow through your land like the River, O daughter of Tarshish; There is no more strength.

¹¹He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms; The LORD has given a commandment against Canaan To destroy its strongholds.

¹²And He said, “You will rejoice no more, O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over to Cyprus; There also you will have no rest.”

¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, This people which was not; Assyria founded it for wild beasts of the desert. They set up its towers, They raised up its palaces, And brought it to ruin.

¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For your strength is laid waste.

¹⁵Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

¹⁶“Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered.”

¹⁷And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

¹⁸Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing.

¹Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”

²And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”

⁴And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”

⁵Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

⁶But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

⁷And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided.

⁸For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.

⁹Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”

¹⁰Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

¹²And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

¹³Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy.

¹⁴They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

¹⁶So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.”

¹⁸So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.”

¹⁹Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him.

²¹But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.”

²²So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.”

²³And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night;

²⁴and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

²⁵He wrote a letter in the following manner:

²⁶Claudius Lysias, To the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.

²⁸And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council.

²⁹I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains.

³⁰And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him. Farewell.

³¹Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks.

³³When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.