Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As Jesus left and was going out of the temple, his disciples came up and called his attention to its buildings.

²He replied to them, “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”

³While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.

⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.

⁶You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet.

⁷For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

⁸All these events are the beginning of labor pains.

⁹“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name.

¹⁰Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another.

¹¹Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

¹²Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand),

¹⁶“then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁷A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house,

¹⁸and a man in the field must not go back to get his coat.

¹⁹Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days!

²⁰Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

²¹For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.

²²Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.

²³“If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Over here!’ do not believe it.

²⁴For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

²⁵Take note: I have told you in advance.

²⁶So if they tell you, ‘See, he’s in the wilderness! ’ don’t go out; or, ‘See, he’s in the storerooms! ’ do not believe it.

²⁷For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

²⁸Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.

²⁹“Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near.

³³In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near — at the door.

³⁴Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁶“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows — neither the angels of heaven nor the Son — except the Father alone.

³⁷As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

³⁸For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark.

³⁹They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be.

⁴⁰Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill; one will be taken and one left.

⁴²Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

⁴³But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.

⁴⁴This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

⁴⁵“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?

⁴⁶Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.

⁴⁷Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁸But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’

⁴⁹and starts to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards,

⁵⁰that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.

⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the LORD had blessed him in everything.

²Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,

³and I will have you swear by the LORD, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

⁴but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”

⁶Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there.

⁷The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’  — he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

⁸If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.”

⁹So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town.

¹¹At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town.

¹²“LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

¹³I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.

¹⁴Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’ — let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah — daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor — coming with a jug on her shoulder.

¹⁶Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin — no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

¹⁸She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.

¹⁹When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.”

²⁰She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels

²¹while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey a success.

²²As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold.

²³“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

²⁵She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.”

²⁶Then the man knelt low, worshiped the LORD,

²⁷and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.

³⁰As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words — “The man said this to me!” — he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

³¹Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the LORD. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

³²So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.

³³A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.”

³⁴“I am Abraham’s servant,” he said.

³⁵“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

³⁶Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

³⁷My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live

³⁸but will go to my father’s family and to my clan to take a wife for my son.’

³⁹But I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come back with me?’

⁴⁰He said to me, ‘The LORD before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s family.

⁴¹Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you — you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful!

⁴³I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jug,’

⁴⁴and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’ — let her be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.

⁴⁵“Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’

⁴⁶She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you? ’ She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

⁴⁸Then I knelt low, worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

⁴⁹Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.”

⁵⁰Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.

⁵¹Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the LORD has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.

⁵³Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.

⁵⁴Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.”

⁵⁵But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us for about ten days. Then she can go.”

⁵⁶But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her opinion.”

⁵⁸They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She replied, “I will go.”

⁵⁹So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men.

⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah, saying to her: Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands. May your offspring possess the city gates of their enemies.

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶²Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region.

⁶³In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming.

⁶⁴Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel

⁶⁵and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.

⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

³But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

⁴About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

⁹But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.

¹²Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

¹My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

²For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in,

³if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”

⁴haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

⁶Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court?

⁷Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?

⁸Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

⁹If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.

¹¹For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.

¹²Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

¹⁷In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe — and they shudder.

²⁰Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

²¹Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?

²²You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?

²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

¹Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why do those who know him never see his days?

²The wicked displace boundary markers. They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.

³They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless and take the widow’s ox as collateral.

⁴They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are forced into hiding.

⁵Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor go out to their task of foraging for food; the desert provides nourishment for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Without clothing, they spend the night naked, having no covering against the cold.

⁸Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks, shelterless.

⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.

¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry sheaves but go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives in their presses; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

¹²From the city, men groan; the mortally wounded cry for help, yet God pays no attention to this crime.

¹³The wicked are those who rebel against the light. They do not recognize its ways or stay on its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and by night he becomes a thief.

¹⁵The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight, thinking, “No eye will see me,” and he covers his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break into houses; by day they lock themselves in, never experiencing the light.

¹⁷For the morning is like darkness to them. Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸They float on the surface of the water. Their section of the land is cursed, so that they never go to their vineyards.

¹⁹As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them; worms feed on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive, and do not deal kindly with the widow.

²²Yet God drags away the mighty by his power; when he rises up, they have no assurance of life.

²³He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it, but his eyes watch over their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then gone; they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else. They wither like heads of grain.

²⁵If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar and show that my speech is worthless?

¹A psalm of David. [1] The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD;

²for he laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.

³Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.

⁵He will receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.

⁸Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.

¹⁰Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD of Armies, he is the King of glory. Selah

¹Don’t envy the evil or desire to be with them,

²for their hearts plan violence, and their words stir up trouble.

³A house is built by wisdom, and it is established by understanding;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.

⁵A wise warrior is better than a strong one, and a man of knowledge than one of strength;

⁶for you should wage war with sound guidance — victory comes with many counselors.

⁷Wisdom is inaccessible to a fool; he does not open his mouth at the city gate.

⁸The one who plots evil will be called a schemer.

⁹A foolish scheme is sin, and a mocker is detestable to people.

¹⁰If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.

¹¹Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,” won’t he who weighs hearts consider it? Won’t he who protects your life know? Won’t he repay a person according to his work?

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;

¹⁴realize that wisdom is the same for you. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

¹⁵Don’t set an ambush, you wicked one, at the camp of the righteous man; don’t destroy his dwelling.

¹⁶Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

¹⁷Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸or the LORD will see, be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him.

¹⁹Don’t be agitated by evildoers, and don’t envy the wicked.

²⁰For the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD, as well as the king, and don’t associate with rebels,

²²for destruction will come suddenly from them; who knows what distress these two can bring?

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

²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”  — peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

²⁵but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a generous blessing will come to them.

²⁶He who gives an honest answer gives a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Complete your outdoor work, and prepare your field; afterward, build your house.

²⁸Don’t testify against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips.

²⁹Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me; I’ll repay the man for what he has done.”

³⁰I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of one lacking sense.

³¹Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined.

³²I saw, and took it to heart; I looked, and received instruction:

³³a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

³⁴and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need, like a bandit.

¹Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and summoned Israel’s elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.

³But I took your father Abraham from the region beyond the Euphrates River, led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac,

⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession. “‘Jacob and his sons, however, went down to Egypt.

⁵I sent Moses and Aaron, and I defeated Egypt by what I did within it, and afterward I brought you out.

⁶When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen as far as the sea.

⁷Your fathers cried out to the LORD, so he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time.

⁸“‘Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you.

⁹Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,

¹⁰but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he repeatedly blessed you, and I rescued you from him.

¹¹“‘You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. Jericho’s citizens — as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hethites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites — fought against you, but I handed them over to you.

¹²I sent hornets ahead of you, and they drove out the two Amorite kings before you. It was not by your sword or bow.

¹³I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

¹⁴“Therefore, fear the LORD and worship him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the LORD.

¹⁵But if it doesn’t please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship — the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD.”

¹⁶The people replied, “We will certainly not abandon the LORD to worship other gods!

¹⁷For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through.

¹⁸The LORD drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the LORD, because he is our God.”

¹⁹But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship the LORD, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions and sins.

²⁰If you abandon the LORD and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you, after he has been good to you.”

²¹“No!” the people answered Joshua. “We will worship the LORD.”

²²Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship the LORD.” “We are witnesses,” they said.

²³“Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the LORD our God and obey him.”

²⁵On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them.

²⁶Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God; he also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak at the sanctuary of the LORD.

²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone — it will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.”

²⁸Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

²⁹After these things, the LORD’s servant, Joshua son of Nun, died at the age of 110.

³⁰They buried him in his allotted territory at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

³¹Israel worshiped the LORD throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had experienced all the works the LORD had done for Israel.

³²Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the parcel of land Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. It was an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.

³³And Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

¹Look, the LORD is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

²people and priest alike, servant and master, female servant and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

³The earth will be stripped completely bare and will be totally plundered, for the LORD has spoken this message.

⁴The earth mourns and withers; the world wastes away and withers; the exalted people of the earth waste away.

⁵The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the permanent covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty; the earth’s inhabitants have been burned, and only a few survive.

⁷The new wine mourns; the vine withers. All the carousers now groan.

⁸The joyful tambourines have ceased. The noise of the jubilant has stopped. The joyful lyre has ceased.

⁹They no longer sing and drink wine; beer is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.

¹¹In the streets they cry for wine. All joy grows dark; earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

¹²Only desolation remains in the city; its gate has collapsed in ruins.

¹³For this is how it will be on earth among the nations: like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

¹⁴They raise their voices, they sing out; they proclaim in the west the majesty of the LORD.

¹⁵Therefore, in the east honor the LORD! In the coasts and islands of the west honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs: The Splendor of the Righteous One. But I said, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me.” The treacherous act treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.

¹⁷Panic, pit, and trap await you who dwell on the earth.

¹⁸Whoever flees at the sound of panic will fall into a pit, and whoever escapes from the pit will be caught in a trap. For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹⁹The earth is completely devastated; the earth is split open; the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹On that day the LORD will punish the army of the heights in the heights and the kings of the ground on the ground.

²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished.

²³The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the LORD of Armies will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and he will display his glory in the presence of his elders.

¹Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.

³We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.

⁵For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him. By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

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⁹The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.

¹¹You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.

¹⁷After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.

¹⁸While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

¹⁹It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

²¹other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

²²Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.

²⁴Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money. So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.