Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

²this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

³Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is bornagain he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

⁶That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be bornagain.’

⁸The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

¹³No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

¹⁵so that everyone whobelieves will have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

¹⁸The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.

²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.

²¹But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealedas having been performed in God.”

²²After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea; and there He was spending time with them and baptizing.

²³Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and being baptized—

²⁴for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification.

²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing and all the people are coming to Him.”

²⁷John replied, “A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’

²⁹He who has the bride is the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹“He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

³²What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony.

³³The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true.

³⁴For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.

³⁶The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

¹Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

²“This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you.

³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.

⁴Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; in proportion to what each one should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

⁵Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.

⁷Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

⁸They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.

¹⁰And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire.

¹¹Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the LORD’S Passover.

¹²For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD.

¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴‘Now this day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.

¹⁵For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be prepared by you.

¹⁷You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.

¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

¹⁹For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.

²⁰You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb.

²²And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

²³For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.

²⁴And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.

²⁵When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite.

²⁶And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’

²⁷then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.

²⁸Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

²⁹Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

³⁰And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

³¹Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said.

³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

³³The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.”

³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing;

³⁶and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.

³⁸A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.

³⁹And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had no yeast, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the time that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was 430 years.

⁴¹And at the end of 430 years, on this very day, all the multitudes of the LORD departed from the land of Egypt.

⁴²It is a night to be observed for the LORD, for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

⁴³And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat it;

⁴⁴but as for every slave that someone has purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.

⁴⁵A stranger or a hired worker shall not eat it.

⁴⁶It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.

⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this.

⁴⁸But if a stranger resides with you and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it.

⁴⁹The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you.”

⁵⁰Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

⁵¹And on that very day the LORD brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their multitudes.

¹Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not just please ourselves.

²Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.

³For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “THE TAUNTS OF THOSE WHO TAUNT YOU HAVE FALLEN ON ME.”

⁴For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

⁵Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus,

⁶so that with one purpose and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God.

⁸For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision in behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers,

⁹and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written: “THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I WILL SING PRAISES TO YOUR NAME.”

¹⁰Again he says, “REJOICE, YOU GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE.”

¹¹And again, “PRAISE THE LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM.”

¹²Again Isaiah says, “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM WILL THE GENTILES HOPE.”

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴And concerning you, my brothers and sisters, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

¹⁵But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given to me from God,

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.

¹⁸For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,

¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and all around as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

²⁰And in this way I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known by name, so that I would not build on another person’s foundation;

²¹but just as it is written: “THEY WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD ABOUT HIM WILL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD WILL UNDERSTAND.”

²²For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;

²³but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you

²⁴whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while—

²⁵but now, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.

²⁶For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

²⁷For they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to do them a service also in material things.

²⁸Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

²⁹I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

³¹that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints;

³²so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and relax in your company.

³³Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

¹Then there was given to me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.

²Leave out the courtyard which is outside the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

³And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

⁵And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

⁷When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

⁸And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

⁹Those from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

¹⁰And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.

¹¹And after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.

¹²And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.

¹³And at that time there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,

¹⁷saying, “We give You thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.

¹⁸And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

²Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

³His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

⁴His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

⁵When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send word to them and consecrate them, getting up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

⁷The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”

⁸The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

⁹Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

¹⁰Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

¹¹But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.”

¹²Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.

¹³Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys feeding beside them,

¹⁵and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three units and made a raid on the camels and took them, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

¹⁹and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

²⁰Then Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped.

²¹He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

²²Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.

¹The LORD reigns, the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned above the cherubim, the earth quakes!

²The LORD is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples.

³May they praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.

⁴The strength of the King loves justice; You have established order; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

⁵Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.

⁶Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They called upon the LORD and He answered them.

⁷He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them.

⁸LORD our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds.

⁹Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His holy hill, For the LORD our God is holy.

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding,

³To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice, and integrity;

⁴To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion,

⁵A wise person will hear and increase in learning, And a person of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

⁶To understand a proverb and a saying, The words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, And do not ignore your mother’s teaching;

⁹For they are a graceful wreath for your head And necklaces for your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, Let’s lie in wait for blood, Let’s ambush the innocent without cause;

¹²Let’s swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us; We will all have one money bag,”

¹⁵My son, do not walk on the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, And they are quick to shed blood.

¹⁷Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.

¹⁹Such are the ways of everyone who makes unjust gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the public square;

²¹At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she declares her sayings:

²²“How long, you naive ones, will you love simplistic thinking? And how long will scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn to my rebuke, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

²⁵And you neglected all my advice And did not want my rebuke;

²⁶I will also laugh at your disaster; I will mock when your dread comes,

²⁷When your dread comes like a storm And your disaster comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but will not find me,

²⁹Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

³⁰They did not accept my advice, They disdainfully rejected every rebuke from me.

³¹So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own schemes.

³²For the faithlessness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

¹Now King Ahasuerus imposed a tax on the land and the coastlands of the sea.

²And every accomplishment of his authority and power, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai with which the king honored him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

³For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his entire nation.

¹“Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of armies.

²“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap.

³And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.

⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old, and as in former years.

⁵“Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, those who oppress the wage earner in his wages or the widow or the orphan, and those who turn away the stranger from justice and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of armies.

⁶“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.

⁷“From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

⁸“Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

⁹You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you!

¹⁰Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the LORD of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

¹¹Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the LORD of armies.

¹²“All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of armies.

¹³“Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’

¹⁴You have said, ‘It is pointless to serve God; and what benefit is it for us that we have done what He required, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of armies?

¹⁵So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and escape punishment.’ ”

¹⁶Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened attentively and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and esteem His name.

¹⁷“And they will be Mine,” says the LORD of armies, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man has compassion for his own son who serves him.”

¹⁸So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

¹Festus, then, after arriving in the province, went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea three days later.

²And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with Festus,

³requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way).

⁴Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea, and that he himself was about to leave shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he *said, “have the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, have them bring charges against him.”

⁶After Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought.

⁷After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many, and serious, charges against him which they could not prove,

⁸while Paul said in his own defense, “I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.”

⁹But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?”

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.

¹¹If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea, paying their respects to Festus.

¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix;

¹⁵and when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

¹⁶I replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any person before the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges.

¹⁷So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered that the man be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not begin bringing any charges against him of crimes that I suspected,

¹⁹but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰And being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

²³So, on the next day when Agrippa and Bernice came amid great pomp and entered the auditorium, accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought before them.

²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had committed nothing deserving death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

²⁶Yet, I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”