Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

²Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

³And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

⁴So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.

⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

⁶So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.

⁷But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

⁸Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;

¹⁰for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

¹¹Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

¹²Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

¹³So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’

¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

¹⁶Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’

¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’

¹⁹Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.

²¹For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

²²And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

²³Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’

²⁵(But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’)

²⁶‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

²⁷But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

²⁸When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples,

³⁰saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.

³¹And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”

³²So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.

³³But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”

³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”

³⁵Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.

³⁶And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.

³⁷Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,

³⁸saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

⁴⁰But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

⁴¹Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

⁴²saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴³For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

⁴⁴and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

⁴⁵Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,

⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

⁴⁷And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him,

⁴⁸and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

¹Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ”

²So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”

³And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),

⁵“that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶Furthermore the LORD said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.

⁷And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.

⁸“Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.

⁹And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

¹¹So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?

¹²Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.

¹⁷And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

¹⁸So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.”

²⁰Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

²³So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.

²⁵Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!”

²⁶So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

²⁷And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.

²⁸So Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

¹Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

²For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

³So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

⁴Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

⁶But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

⁸But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

¹⁰And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

¹²Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

¹³Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

¹⁶If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

¹⁷But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

¹⁹For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

²⁰Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

²²For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

²⁴O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

²⁵I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

¹“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

²Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.

³Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

⁴You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

⁵He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

⁶“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

⁷“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:

⁸“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

⁹Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

¹⁰Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

¹²He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

¹³“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

¹⁴“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

¹⁵“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

¹⁶So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

¹⁷Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

¹⁸I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

¹⁹As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

²⁰Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

²¹To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

²²“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”

¹The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— For your love is better than wine.

³Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you.

⁴Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept.

⁷Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with chains of gold.

¹¹We will make you ornaments of gold With studs of silver.

¹²While the king is at his table, My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.

¹³A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, That lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms In the vineyards of En Gedi.

¹⁵Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.

¹⁶Behold, you are handsome, my beloved! Yes, pleasant! Also our bed is green.

¹⁷The beams of our houses are cedar, And our rafters of fir.

¹He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

³Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.

⁴He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

⁵You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

⁸Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

¹⁰No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

¹¹For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

¹²In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

¹³You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

¹⁴“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

¹⁵He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

¹Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;

²For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of troublemaking.

³Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established;

⁴By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;

⁶For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

⁷Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate.

⁸He who plots to do evil Will be called a schemer.

⁹The devising of foolishness is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.

¹¹Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

¹³My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not plunder his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

¹⁸Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the wicked;

²⁰For there will be no prospect for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those given to change;

²²For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

²³These things also belong to the wise: It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

²⁴He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Him the people will curse; Nations will abhor him.

²⁵But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, And a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, For would you deceive with your lips?

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”

³⁰I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;

³¹And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

³³A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest;

³⁴So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

²Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king;

³and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them.

⁴Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king, and he did so.

⁵In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.

⁶Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

⁷And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

⁸So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women.

⁹Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.

¹⁰Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

¹¹And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

¹²Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.

¹³Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace.

¹⁴In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.

¹⁵Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

¹⁶So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

¹⁷The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

¹⁸Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.

¹⁹When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king’s gate.

²⁰Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.

²¹In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

²²So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.

²³And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

¹The burden of the word of the LORD Against the land of Hadrach, And Damascus its resting place (For the eyes of men And all the tribes of Israel Are on the LORD);

²Also against Hamath, which borders on it, And against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

³For Tyre built herself a tower, Heaped up silver like the dust, And gold like the mire of the streets.

⁴Behold, the Lord will cast her out; He will destroy her power in the sea, And she will be devoured by fire.

⁵Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; And Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

⁶“A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

⁷I will take away the blood from his mouth, And the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, And shall be like a leader in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.

⁸I will camp around My house Because of the army, Because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, For now I have seen with My eyes.

⁹“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’

¹¹“As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

¹²Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you.

¹³For I have bent Judah, My bow, Fitted the bow with Ephraim, And raised up your sons, O Zion, Against your sons, O Greece, And made you like the sword of a mighty man.”

¹⁴Then the LORD will be seen over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, And go with whirlwinds from the south.

¹⁵The LORD of hosts will defend them; They shall devour and subdue with slingstones. They shall drink and roar as if with wine; They shall be filled with blood like basins, Like the corners of the altar.

¹⁶The LORD their God will save them in that day, As the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, Lifted like a banner over His land—

¹⁷For how great is its goodness And how great its beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive, And new wine the young women.

¹Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

⁴And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

⁵But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

⁷Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”

⁸And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

⁹So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

¹⁰Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.

¹⁵So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

¹⁶Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

¹⁷Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?

²⁰For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

²²Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

²³for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

²⁴“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

²⁵Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

²⁶And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁷so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³²And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

³³So Paul departed from among them.

³⁴However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.