Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was approaching.

²The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put him to death, because they were afraid of the people.

³Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was numbered among the Twelve.

⁴He went away and discussed with the chief priests and temple police how he could hand him over to them.

⁵They were glad and agreed to give him silver.

⁶So he accepted the offer and started looking for a good opportunity to betray him to them when the crowd was not present.

⁷Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

⁸Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

⁹“Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

¹⁰“Listen,” he said to them, “when you’ve entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters.

¹¹Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?”’

¹²Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there.”

¹³So they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him.

¹⁵Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

¹⁶For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves.

¹⁸For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

²¹But look, the hand of the one betraying me is at the table with me.

²²For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

²³So they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do it.

²⁴Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest.

²⁵But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’

²⁶It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.

²⁷For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

²⁸You are those who stood by me in my trials.

²⁹I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me,

³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹“Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

³²But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

³³“Lord,” he told him, “I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”

³⁴“I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me.”

³⁵He also said to them, “When I sent you out without money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Not a thing,” they said.

³⁶Then he said to them, “But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one.

³⁷For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.”

³⁸“Lord,” they said, “look, here are two swords.” “That is enough!” he told them.

³⁹He went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

⁴⁰When he reached the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.”

⁴¹Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray,

⁴²“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me — nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

⁴³Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.

⁴⁴Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵When he got up from prayer and came to the disciples, he found them sleeping, exhausted from their grief.

⁴⁶“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you won’t fall into temptation.”

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, suddenly a mob came, and one of the Twelve named Judas was leading them. He came near Jesus to kiss him,

⁴⁸but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹When those around him saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?”

⁵⁰Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹But Jesus responded, “No more of this!” And touching his ear, he healed him.

⁵²Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal?

⁵³Every day while I was with you in the temple, you never laid a hand on me. But this is your hour — and the dominion of darkness.”

⁵⁴They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. Meanwhile Peter was following at a distance.

⁵⁵They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat among them.

⁵⁶When a servant saw him sitting in the light, and looked closely at him, she said, “This man was with him too.”

⁵⁷But he denied it: “Woman, I don’t know him.”

⁵⁸After a little while, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too.” “Man, I am not!” Peter said.

⁵⁹About an hour later, another kept insisting, “This man was certainly with him, since he’s also a Galilean.”

⁶⁰But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.

⁶¹Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”

⁶²And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³The men who were holding Jesus started mocking and beating him.

⁶⁴After blindfolding him, they kept asking, “Prophesy! Who was it that hit you?”

⁶⁵And they were saying many other blasphemous things to him.

⁶⁶When daylight came, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the scribes, convened and brought him before their Sanhedrin.

⁶⁷They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I do tell you, you will not believe.

⁶⁸And if I ask you, you will not answer.

⁶⁹But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

⁷⁰They all asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹“Why do we need any more testimony,” they said, “since we’ve heard it ourselves from his mouth?”

¹The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

²You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

⁵The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the LORD commanded them.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.

¹¹But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers — the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

¹³However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.

¹⁶Tell him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says: Here is how you will know that I am the LORD. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

¹⁹So the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs — and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.

²¹The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²³Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t take even this to heart.

²⁴All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.

¹Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation.

²I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

³Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,

⁵since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.

⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down

⁷or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

⁸On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:

⁹If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

¹¹For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,

¹²since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him.

¹³For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

¹⁴How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

¹⁶But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

¹⁷So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

¹⁸But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

¹⁹But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.

²⁰And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me.

²¹But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

¹Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

⁴Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand.

⁶Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.”

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

⁸And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? ”

¹¹So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

¹²Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood;

¹³the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind;

¹⁴the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”

¹How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Behind your veil, your eyes are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from washing, each one bearing twins, and none has lost its young.

³Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your mouth is lovely. Behind your veil, your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, constructed in layers. A thousand shields are hung on it — all of them shields of warriors.

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are absolutely beautiful, my darling; there is no imperfection in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride. You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰How delightful your caresses are, my sister, my bride. Your caresses are much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

¹¹Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹²My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden — a locked garden and a sealed spring.

¹³Your branches are a paradise of pomegranates with choicest fruits; henna with nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices.

¹⁵You are a garden spring, a well of flowing water streaming from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awaken, north wind; come, south wind. Blow on my garden, and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my love come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits.

¹LORD, God of vengeance — God of vengeance, shine!

²Rise up, Judge of the earth; repay the proud what they deserve.

³LORD, how long will the wicked — how long will the wicked celebrate?

⁴They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.

⁵LORD, they crush your people; they oppress your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the resident alien and murder the fatherless.

⁷They say, “The LORD doesn’t see it. The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”

⁸Pay attention, you stupid people! Fools, when will you be wise?

⁹Can the one who shaped the ear not hear, the one who formed the eye not see?

¹⁰The one who instructs nations, the one who teaches mankind knowledge — does he not discipline?

¹¹The LORD knows the thoughts of mankind; they are futile.

¹²LORD, how happy is anyone you discipline and teach from your law

¹³to give him relief from troubled times until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴The LORD will not leave his people or abandon his heritage,

¹⁵for the administration of justice will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?

¹⁷If the LORD had not been my helper, I would soon rest in the silence of death.

¹⁸If I say, “My foot is slipping,” your faithful love will support me, LORD.

¹⁹When I am filled with cares, your comfort brings me joy.

²⁰Can a corrupt throne be your ally, a throne that makes evil laws?

²¹They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the LORD is my refuge; my God is the rock of my protection.

²³He will pay them back for their sins and destroy them for their evil. The LORD our God will destroy them.

¹Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth — a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and sand, a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

⁴Fury is cruel, and anger a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

⁵Better an open reprimand than concealed love.

⁶The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.

⁷A person who is full tramples on a honeycomb, but to a hungry person, any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Anyone wandering from his home is like a bird wandering from its nest.

⁹Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.

¹⁰Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and don’t go to your brother’s house in your time of calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy, so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.

¹²A sensible person sees danger and takes cover; the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

¹³Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁴If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse to him.

¹⁵An endless dripping on a rainy day and a nagging wife are alike;

¹⁶the one who controls her controls the wind and grasps oil with his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.

¹⁸Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever looks after his master will be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and people’s eyes are never satisfied.

²¹A crucible refines silver, a smelter refines gold, and a person refines his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, you will not separate his foolishness from him.

²³Know well the condition of your flock, and pay attention to your herds,

²⁴for wealth is not forever; not even a crown lasts for all time.

²⁵When hay is removed and new growth appears and the grain from the hills is gathered in,

²⁶lambs will provide your clothing, and goats, the price of a field;

²⁷there will be enough goat’s milk for your food — food for your household and nourishment for your female servants.

¹On the third day, Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing its entrance.

²As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor in his eyes. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

³“What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”

⁴“If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.”

⁵The king said, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

⁶While drinking the wine, the king asked Esther, “Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”

⁷Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request:

⁸If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them. Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”

⁹That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

¹⁰Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh to join him.

¹¹Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.

¹²“What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king.

¹³Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate all the time.”

¹⁴His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet tall. Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.

¹A pronouncement: The word of the LORD concerning Israel. A declaration of the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him.

²“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.

³On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.

⁴On that day” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness.

⁵Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of Armies, their God.

⁶On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem.

⁷The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah.

⁸On that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD, before them.

⁹On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.

¹¹On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

¹²The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s house by itself and their women by themselves;

¹³the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself and their women by themselves;

¹⁴all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.

²And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

⁹and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”

¹¹After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

¹²They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

²³except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,

²⁷because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³²“And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.

³⁵In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

³⁷There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.