Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

²But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no onemisleads you.

⁵For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am theChrist,’ and they willmislead many people.

⁶And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

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

⁸But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

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

¹⁰And at that time many willfall away, and they willbetray one another and hate one another.

¹¹And many false prophets will rise up andmislead many people.

¹²And because lawlessness is increased,most people’s love will become cold.

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

¹⁴This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the wholeworld as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place— let the reader understand—

¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁷Whoever is on thehousetop must not go down to get things out of his house.

¹⁸Andwhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁹But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

²⁰Moreover, pray thatwhen you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

²¹For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.

²²And if those days had not been cut short, nolife would have been saved; but for the sake of theelect those days will be cut short.

²³Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is theChrist,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him.

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide greatsigns and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even theelect.

²⁵Behold, I have told you in advance.

²⁶So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.

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

²⁸Wherever the corpse is, there thevultures will gather.

²⁹“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

³¹And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER Hiselect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near;

³³so you too, when you see all these things,recognize thatHe is near, right at thedoor.

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

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³⁷Forthe coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

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

³⁹and they did notunderstand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰At that time there will be two men in the field; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding at themill; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴²“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

⁴³Butbe sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁴For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom hismaster finds so doing when he comes.

⁴⁷Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁸But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘Mymasteris not coming for a long time,’

⁴⁹and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with those habitually drunk;

⁵⁰then themaster of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know,

⁵¹and he willcut him in two and assignhim a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in every way.

²Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,

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

⁴but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?”

⁶Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there!

⁷The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

⁸But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free of this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.”

⁹So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

¹¹He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water when it was evening, the time when women go out to draw water.

¹²And he said, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

¹³Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;

¹⁴now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵And it came about, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.

¹⁶The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.

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

¹⁸And she said, “Drink, my lord”; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.

¹⁹Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.

²¹Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her in silence, to find out whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.

²²When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,

²³and he said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?”

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

²⁵Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.”

²⁶Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD.

²⁷And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.

³⁰When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

³¹And he said, “Come in, blessed of the LORD! Why do you stand outside, since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?”

³²So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And he said, “Speak on.”

³⁴So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.

³⁵The LORD has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys.

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

³⁷My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;

³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’

³⁹Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’

⁴⁰And he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;

⁴¹then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going successful;

⁴³behold, I am standing by the spring, and may it be that the young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar”;

⁴⁴and she says to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

⁴⁶She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.

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

⁴⁸And I bowed low and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.

⁴⁹So now if you are going to deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The matter has come from the LORD; so we cannot speak to you bad or good.

⁵¹Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”

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

⁵³And the servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

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

⁵⁵But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.”

⁵⁶However, he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷And they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her.”

⁵⁸Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.

⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, Become thousands of ten thousands, And may your descendants possess The gate of those who hate them.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah got up with her female attendants, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

⁶²Now Isaac had come back from a journey to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev.

⁶³Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.

⁶⁴Rebekah raised her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.

⁶⁵She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.

⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; so Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

¹Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes one conceited, but love edifies people.

²If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;

³but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

⁴Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all 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 indeed there are many gods and many lords,

⁶yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

⁷However, not all people have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Now food will not bring us close to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.

⁹But take care that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

¹¹For through your knowledge the one who is weak is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died.

¹²And so, by sinning against the brothers and sisters and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.

¹My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

²For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

³and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”

⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

¹²So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

¹⁷In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

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

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

²¹Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called a friend of God.

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

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

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

¹“Why are times not stored up by the Almighty, And why do those who know Him not see His days?

²People remove landmarks; They seize and devour flocks.

³They drive away the donkeys of orphans; They seize the widow’s ox as a pledge.

⁴They push the needy aside from the road; The poor of the land have to hide themselves together.

⁵Behold, like wild donkeys in the wilderness They go out scavenging for food in their activity, As bread for their children in the desert.

⁶They harvest their feed in the field And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering against the cold.

⁸They are wet from the mountain rains, And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.

⁹Others snatch an orphan from the breast, And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.

¹⁰The poor move about naked without clothing, And they carry sheaves, while going hungry.

¹¹Within the walls they produce oil; They tread wine presses but go thirsty.

¹²From the city people groan, And the souls of the wounded cry for help; Yet God does not pay attention to the offensiveness.

¹³“Others have been with those who rebel against the light; They do not want to know its ways Nor stay in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer arises at dawn; He kills the poor and the needy, And at night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ And he disguises his face.

¹⁶In the darkness they dig into houses, They shut themselves up by day; They do not know the light.

¹⁷For the morning is the same to him as thick darkness, For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

¹⁸“They are insignificant on the surface of the water; Their plot of land on the earth is cursed. They do not turn toward the vineyards.

¹⁹Dryness and heat snatch away the snow waters, As Sheol snatches those who have sinned.

²⁰A mother will forget him; The maggot feeds sweetly until he is no longer remembered. And injustice will be broken like a tree.

²¹He wrongs the infertile woman, And does no good for the widow.

²²But He drags off the mighty by His power; He rises, but no one has assurance of life.

²³He provides them with security, and they are supported; And His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted a little while, then they are gone; Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything they are gathered up; Like the heads of grain they wither.

²⁵Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar, And make my speech worthless?”

¹The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who live in it.

²For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.

³Who may ascend onto the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?

⁴One who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to deceit And has not sworn deceitfully.

⁵He will receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates, And be lifted up, you ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!

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

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates, And lift them up, you ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!

¹⁰Who is this King of glory? The LORD of armies, He is the King of glory. Selah

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

²For their minds plot violence, And their lips talk of trouble.

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

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

⁵A wise man is strong, And a person of knowledge increases power.

⁶For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in an abundance of counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth at the gate.

⁸One who plans to do evil, People will call a schemer.

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

¹⁰If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meager.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh hold them back!

¹²If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He who weighs the hearts not consider it? And does He who watches over your soul not know it? And will He not repay a person according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good; Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴Know that wisdom is the same for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in ambush, you wicked person, against the home of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.

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

¹⁸Otherwise, the LORD will see and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.

¹⁹Do not get upset because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked;

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

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not get involved with those of high rank,

²²For their disaster will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁴One who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Peoples will curse him, nations will scold him;

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

²⁶One who gives a right answer Kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside, And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterward, then, build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor for no reason, And do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I shall do the same to him as he has done to me; I will repay the person according to his work.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a lazy one, And by the vineyard of a person lacking sense,

³¹And behold, it was completely overgrown with weeds; Its surface was covered with weeds, And its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction.

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

³⁴Then your poverty will come like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

¹Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

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

⁴To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

⁵Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.

⁶So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

⁷But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

⁸Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land when I eliminated them before you.

⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent messengers and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.

¹⁰But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand.

¹¹You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Therefore I handed them over to you.

¹²Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—not by your sword nor your bow.

¹³And I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

¹⁴“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

¹⁵But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

¹⁶The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would abandon the LORD to serve other gods;

¹⁷for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

¹⁸The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

¹⁹Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins.

²⁰If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you.”

²¹And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

²²So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

²³“Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

²⁶And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

²⁷Then Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.”

²⁸Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

²⁹Now it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being 110 years old.

³⁰And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

³¹Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known every deed of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

³²Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.

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

¹Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.

²And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.

³The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.

⁴The earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth dwindle.

⁵The earth is also defiled by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.

⁷The new wine mourns, The vine decays, All the joyful-hearted sigh.

⁸The joy of tambourines ceases, The noise of revelers stops, The joy of the harp ceases.

⁹They do not drink wine with song; Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is broken down; Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.

¹¹There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; All joy turns to gloom. The joy of the earth is banished.

¹²Desolation is left in the city And the gate is battered to ruins.

¹³For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

¹⁴They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

¹⁵Therefore glorify the LORD in the east, The name of the LORD, the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One,” But I say, “I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

¹⁷Terror and pit and snare Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth.

¹⁸Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit, And the one who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

¹⁹The earth is broken apart, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently.

²⁰The earth trembles like a heavy drinker And sways like a hut, For its wrongdoing is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

²¹So it will happen on that day, That the LORD will punish the rebellious angels of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth.

²²They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished.

²³Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame, For the LORD of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.

¹Now after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney named Tertullus, and they brought charges against Paul to the governor.

²After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began accusing him, saying to the governor, “Since we have attained great peace through you, and since reforms are being carried out for this nation by your foresight,

³we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness.

⁴But, that I may not weary you further, I beg you to grant us a brief hearing, by your kindness.

⁵For we have found this man a public menace and one who stirs up dissensions among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶And he even tried to desecrate the temple, so indeed we arrested him.

⁷

⁸By interrogating him yourself concerning all these matters, you will be able to ascertain the things of which we are accusing him.”

⁹The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰And when the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense,

¹¹since you can take note of the fact that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²And neither in the temple did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or causing a riot, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself.

¹³Nor can they prove to you the things of which they now accuse me.

¹⁴But I confess this to you, that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets;

¹⁵having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

¹⁶In view of this I also do my best to maintain a blameless conscience both before God and before other people, always.

¹⁷Now after several years I came to bring charitable gifts to my nation and to present offerings,

¹⁸in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been purified, without any crowd or uproar. But there were some Jews from Asia—

¹⁹who ought to have been present before you and to have been bringing charges, if they should have anything against me.

²⁰Or else have these men themselves declare what violation they discovered when I stood before the Council,

²¹other than in regard to this one declaration which I shouted while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today!’ ”

²²But Felix, having quite accurate knowledge about the Way, adjourned them, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³He gave orders to the centurion for Paul to be kept in custody and yet have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from providing for his needs.

²⁴Now some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla his wife, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and responded, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will summon you.”

²⁶At the same time he was also hoping that money would be given to him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and talk with him.

²⁷But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul imprisoned.