Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near.

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

³Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve;

⁴he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them.

⁵They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money.

⁶So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present.

⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

⁸So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.”

⁹They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?”

¹⁰“Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters

¹¹and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’

¹²He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.”

¹³So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁴When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him.

¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

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

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

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

¹⁹Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

²¹But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table.

²²For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!”

²³Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

²⁴A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

²⁵But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

²⁶But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.

²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸“You are those who have stood by me in my trials;

²⁹and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom,

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, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat,

³²but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

³³And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!”

³⁴Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”

³⁵He said to them, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.”

³⁶He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.

³⁷For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.”

³⁸They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” He replied, “It is enough.”

³⁹He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him.

⁴⁰When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

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

⁴²“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”

⁴³[42] [[Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength.

⁴⁴In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]]

⁴⁵When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief,

⁴⁶and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him;

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

⁴⁹When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?”

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

⁵¹But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.

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

⁵³When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”

⁵⁴Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance.

⁵⁵When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.

⁵⁶Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.”

⁵⁷But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”

⁵⁸A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”

⁵⁹Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.”

⁶⁰But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed.

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

⁶²And he went out and wept bitterly.

⁶³Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him;

⁶⁴they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”

⁶⁵They kept heaping many other insults on him.

⁶⁶When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council.

⁶⁷They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.” He replied, “If I tell you, you will not believe;

⁶⁸and if I question 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.”

⁷⁰All of them asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?” He said to them, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!”

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

²You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

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

⁴When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

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

⁶Moses and Aaron did so; 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 says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”

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

¹¹Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.

¹³Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

¹⁶Say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.

¹⁷Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD.” See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.

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

¹⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water — so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood,

²¹and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²³Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.

²⁴And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

¹Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

²I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.

³For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.”

⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)

⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

⁹because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

¹¹The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.

¹³For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?

¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

¹⁷So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

¹⁸But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

²⁰Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

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

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

²I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.

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

⁴And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.

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

⁶and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

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

⁸I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, 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 for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;

¹⁰they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”

¹¹They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.

¹²When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

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

¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

¹How beautiful you are, my love, how very beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved.

³Your lips are like a crimson thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, built in courses; on it hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.

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

⁶Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

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

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

¹⁰How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

¹¹Your lips distill nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

¹²A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.

¹³Your channel is an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices —

¹⁵a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

¹O LORD, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth!

²Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve!

³O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?

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

⁵They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan,

⁷and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

⁸Understand, O dullest of the people; fools, when will you be wise?

⁹He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?

¹⁰He who disciplines the nations, he who teaches knowledge to humankind, does he not chastise?

¹¹The LORD knows our thoughts, that they are but an empty breath.

¹²Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

¹³giving them respite from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;

¹⁵for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?

¹⁷If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

¹⁸When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

¹⁹When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

²⁰Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who contrive mischief by statute?

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

²²But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.

²³He will repay them for their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

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

³A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nest is one who strays from home.

⁹Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the soul is torn by trouble.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.

¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

¹²The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁴Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

¹⁵A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike;

¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in the right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another.

¹⁸Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored.

¹⁹Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and human eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, so a person is tested by being praised.

²²Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, but the folly will not be driven out.

²³Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds;

²⁴for riches do not last forever, nor a crown for all generations.

²⁵When the grass is gone, and new growth appears, and the herbage of the mountains is gathered,

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

²⁷there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and nourishment for your servant-girls.

¹On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace.

²As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

³The king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”

⁴Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for the king.”

⁵Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

⁶While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”

⁷Then Esther said, “This is my petition and request:

⁸If I have won the king’s favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and then I will do as the king has said.”

⁹Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and observed that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was infuriated with Mordecai;

¹⁰nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home. Then he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

¹¹and Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the ministers of the king.

¹²Haman added, “Even Queen Esther let no one but myself come with the king to the banquet that she prepared. Tomorrow also I am invited by her, together with the king.

¹³Yet all this does me no good so long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”

¹⁴Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits.” This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

¹An Oracle. The word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus says the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within:

²See, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding peoples; it will be against Judah also in the siege against Jerusalem.

³On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth shall come together against it.

⁴On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But on the house of Judah I will keep a watchful eye, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

⁵Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.”

⁶On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot on a pile of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

⁷And the LORD will give victory to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.

⁸On that day the LORD will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, at their head.

⁹And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

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

¹²The land shall mourn, each family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

¹³the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves;

¹⁴and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples; and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left for Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece,

³where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.

⁵They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas;

⁶but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting.

⁹A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

¹¹Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left.

¹²Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.

¹³We went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for he had made this arrangement, intending to go by land himself.

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

¹⁵We sailed from there, and on the following day we arrived opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; he was eager to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

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

²⁰I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

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

²²And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,

²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

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

³⁰Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them.

³¹Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears.

³²And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions.

³⁵In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed.

³⁷There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.