Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been told that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

²(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),

³He left Judea and returned again to Galilee.

⁴Now He had to go through Samaria.

⁵So He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;

⁶and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (noon).

⁷Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink"—

⁸For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food—

⁹The Samaritan woman asked Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.)

¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew [about] God's gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life)."

¹¹She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

¹²Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?"

¹³Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

¹⁴But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life."

¹⁵The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw."

¹⁶At this, Jesus said, "Go, call your husband and come back."

¹⁷The woman answered, "I do not have a husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I do not have a husband';

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. You have said this truthfully."

¹⁹The woman said to Him, "Sir, I see that You are a prophet.

²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple]."

²¹Jesus replied, "Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God's kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

²²You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews.

²³But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.

²⁴God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

²⁵The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know]."

²⁶Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah)."

²⁷Just then His disciples came, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. However, no one said, "What are You asking about?" or, "Why are You talking to her?"

²⁸Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people,

²⁹"Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?"

³⁰So the people left the city and were coming to Him.

³¹Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus [to have a meal], saying, "Rabbi (Teacher), eat."

³²But He told them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."

³³So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him something to eat?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to completely finish His work.

³⁵Do you not say, 'It is still four months until the harvest comes?' Look, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields and see, they are white for harvest.

³⁶Already the reaper is receiving his wages and he is gathering fruit for eternal life; so that he who plants and he who reaps may rejoice together.

³⁷For in this case the saying is true, 'One [person] sows and another reaps.'

³⁸I sent you to reap [a crop] for which you have not worked. Others have worked and you have been privileged to reap the results of their work."

³⁹Now many Samaritans from that city believed in Him and trusted Him [as Savior] because of what the woman said when she testified, "He told me all the things that I have done."

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked Him to remain with them; and He stayed there two days.

⁴¹Many more believed in Him [with a deep, abiding trust] because of His word [His personal message to them];

⁴²and they told the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; for [now] we have heard Him for ourselves and know [with confident assurance] that this One is truly the Savior of [all] the world."

⁴³After the two days He went on from there into Galilee.

⁴⁴For Jesus Himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

⁴⁵So when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, since they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they too came to the feast.

⁴⁶So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum.

⁴⁷Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you [people] see [miraculous] signs and wonders, you [simply] will not believe."

⁴⁹The royal official pleaded with Him, "Sir, do come down [at once] before my child dies!"

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives!" The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home.

⁵¹As he was already going down [the road], his servants met him and reported that his son was living [and was healthy].

⁵²So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, "Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him."

⁵³Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son lives"; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior].

⁵⁴This is the second sign (attesting miracle) that Jesus performed [in Cana] after He had come from Judea to Galilee [revealing that He is the Messiah].

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Sanctify to Me [that is, set apart for My purpose] every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal; it is Mine."

³Moses said to the people, "Remember [solemnly observe and commemorate] this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage and slavery; for by a strong and powerful hand the LORD brought you out of this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.

⁴On this day in the month Abib, you are about to go onward.

⁵And it shall be when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land [of abundance] flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep and observe this rite (service) in this month.

⁶For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.

⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, nor shall there be leaven within the borders of your territory.

⁸You shall explain this to your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

⁹It shall serve as a sign to you on your hand (arm), and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the instruction (law) of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a strong and powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.

¹⁰Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at this time from year to year.

¹¹"Now it shall be when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you,

¹²you shall set apart and dedicate to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock shall be the Lord's.

¹³Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem by [substituting] a lamb [as a sacrifice for it], but if you do not [wish to] redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn among your sons you shall redeem [that is, "buy back" from God with a suitable sacrifice].

¹⁴And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'With a strong and powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage and slavery.

¹⁵For it happened, when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that the LORD struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animal. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD all the males, the first [to be born] of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.'

¹⁶So it shall serve as a sign and a reminder on your [left] hand (arm) and as frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong and powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

¹⁷So it happened, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war [that is, that there will be war], and return to Egypt."

¹⁸But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea; the sons of Israel went up in battle array (orderly ranks, marching formation) out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had solemnly ordered (placed under an oath) the Israelites, saying, "God will assuredly take care of you, and you must carry my bones away from here with you."

²⁰They journeyed from Succoth [in Goshen] and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.

²¹The [presence of the] LORD was going before them by day in a pillar (column) of cloud to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night.

²²He did not withdraw the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from going before the people.

¹Now I introduce and commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess (servant) of the church at Cenchrea,

²that you may receive her in the Lord [with love and hospitality], as God's people ought to receive one another. And that you may help her in whatever matter she may require assistance from you, for she has been a helper of many, including myself.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

⁴who risked their own necks [endangering their very lives] for my life. To them not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

⁵Also greet the church that meets in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor].

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked so hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and [once] my fellow prisoners, who are held in high esteem in the estimation of the apostles, and who were [believers] in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, the one tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet my beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, an eminent and choice man in the Lord, also his mother [who has been] a mother to me as well.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.

¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all God's people who are with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep your eyes on those who cause dissensions and create obstacles or introduce temptations [for others] to commit sin, [acting in ways] contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. Turn away from them.

¹⁸For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites and base desires. By smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting [the innocent and the naive].

¹⁹For the report of your obedience has reached everyone, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The [wonderful] grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

²²I, Tertius, the writer (scribe) of this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church here, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.

²⁴[The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]

²⁵Now to Him who is able to establish and strengthen you [in the faith] according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [of the plan of salvation] which has been kept secret for long ages past,

²⁶but now has been disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the commandment of the eternal God, leading them to obedience to the faith,

²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forevermore! Amen.

¹And a great sign [warning of an ominous and frightening future event] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

²She was with child (the Messiah) and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

³Then another sign [of warning] was seen in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon (Satan) with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven royal crowns (diadems).

⁴And his tail swept [across the sky] and dragged away a third of the stars of heaven and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

⁵And she gave birth to a Son, a male Child, who is destined to rule (shepherd) all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years).

⁷And war broke out in heaven, Michael [the archangel] and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought,

⁸but they were not strong enough and did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the age-old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, he who continually deceives and seduces the entire inhabited world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom (dominion, reign) of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the accuser of our [believing] brothers and sisters has been thrown down [at last], he who accuses them and keeps bringing charges [of sinful behavior] against them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.

¹²Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them [in the presence of God]. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time [remaining]!"

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male Child.

¹⁴But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time (three and one-half years), away from the presence of the serpent (Satan).

¹⁵And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.

¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went off to wage war on the rest of her children (seed), those who keep and obey the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus [holding firmly to it and bearing witness to Him].

¹Again there was a day when the sons of God (angels) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan (adversary, accuser) also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

²The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming around on the earth and from walking around on it."

³The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God]. And still he maintains and holds tightly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without cause."

⁴Satan answered the LORD, " Skin for skin! Yes, a man will give all he has for his life.

⁵But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh [and severely afflict him]; and he will curse You to Your face."

⁶So the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life."

⁷So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome boils and agonizingly painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

⁸And Job took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself, and he sat [down] among the ashes (rubbish heaps).

⁹Then his wife said to him, "Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!"

¹⁰But he said to her, "You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God's will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?" In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

¹¹Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; for they had made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

¹²When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him [because of his disfigurement], they raised their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe [in grief] and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky [in sorrow].

¹³So they sat down on the ground with Job for seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

¹A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

²Serve the LORD with gladness and delight; Come before His presence with joyful singing.

³Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His]. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.

⁵For the LORD is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.

¹My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

²So that your ear is attentive to [skillful and godly] wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding [seeking it conscientiously and striving for it eagerly];

³Yes, if you cry out for insight, And lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek skillful and godly wisdom as you would silver And search for her as you would hidden treasures;

⁵Then you will understand the [reverent] fear of the LORD [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] And discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives [skillful and godly] wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores away sound wisdom for the righteous [those who are in right standing with Him]; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity [those of honorable character and moral courage],

⁸He guards the paths of justice; And He preserves the way of His saints (believers).

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice [in every circumstance] And integrity and every good path.

¹⁰For [skillful and godly] wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, Understanding and discernment will guard you,

¹²To keep you from the way of evil and the evil man, From the man who speaks perverse things;

¹³From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴Who find joy in doing evil And delight in the perversity of evil,

¹⁵Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways;

¹⁶To keep you from the immoral woman; From the seductress with her flattering words,

¹⁷Who leaves the companion (husband) of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.

¹⁸For her house leads down to death And her paths lead to the dead;

¹⁹None who go to her return again, Nor do they regain the paths of life—

²⁰So you will walk in the way of good men [that is, those of personal integrity, moral courage and honorable character], And keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright [those who are in right standing with God] will live in the land And those [of integrity] who are blameless [in God's sight] will remain in it;

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous shall be [forcibly] uprooted and removed from it.

¹Now it happened after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant (attendant), saying,

²"Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise [to take his place], cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

³I have given you every place on which the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised to Moses.

⁴From the wilderness [of Arabia in the south] and this Lebanon [in the north], even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates [in the east], all the land of the Hittites (Canaan), and as far as the Great [Mediterranean] Sea toward the west shall be your territory.

⁵No man will [be able to] stand before you [to oppose you] as long as you live. Just as I was [present] with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you or abandon you.

⁶Be strong and confident and courageous, for you will give this people as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers (ancestors) to give them.

⁷Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do [everything] in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go.

⁸This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.

⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

¹¹"Go throughout the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to cross this [river] Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess [as an inheritance].'"

¹²To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,

¹³"Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is giving you rest (peace) and will give you this land [east of the Jordan].'

¹⁴Your wives, your children, and your cattle shall [be allowed to] stay in the land which Moses gave you on this [eastern] side of the Jordan, but you shall go across [the river] before your brothers (the other tribes) armed for battle, all your brave warriors, and you shall help them [conquer and take possession of their land],

¹⁵until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they also take possession of the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall [be allowed to] return to your own land, and take possession of that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise."

¹⁶They answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

¹⁷Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.

¹⁸Any man who rebels against your command and does not obey everything that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous."

¹"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant (proud, self-righteous, haughty), and every evildoer shall be stubble; and the day that is coming shall set them on fire," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

²But for you who fear My name [with awe-filled reverence] the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forward and leap [joyfully] like calves [released] from the stall.

³You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this," says the LORD of hosts.

⁴"Remember [with thoughtful concern] the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel.

⁵"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.

⁶He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance], so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse [of complete destruction]."

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You are [now] permitted to speak on your own behalf." At that, Paul stretched out his hand [as an orator] and made his defense [as follows]:

²"I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, since it is before you that I am to make my defense today regarding all the charges brought against me by the Jews,

³especially because you are an expert [fully knowledgeable, experienced and unusually conversant] in all the Jewish customs and controversial issues; therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴"So then, all the Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation [the Jewish people], and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify to it, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.

⁷Which hope [of the Messiah and the resurrection] our twelve tribes [confidently] expect to realize as they serve and worship God in earnest night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews!

⁸Why is it thought incredible by [any of] you that God raises the dead?

⁹"So then, I [once] thought to myself that it was my duty to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; I not only locked up many of the saints (God's people) in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I often punished them [making them suffer] in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme; and in my extreme rage at them, I kept hunting them even to foreign cities [harassing and persecuting them].

¹²"While so engaged, as I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission and full power of the chief priests,

¹³at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven surpassing the brightness of the sun, shining all around me and those who were traveling with me.

¹⁴And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice in the Hebrew dialect (Jewish Aramaic) saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick [repeatedly] against the goads [offering pointless resistance].'

¹⁵And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶Get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you [to serve] as a minister and as a witness [to testify, with authority,] not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷[choosing you for Myself and] rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

¹⁸to open their [spiritual] eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness and release from their sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) by faith in Me.'

¹⁹"So, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but I openly proclaimed first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent [change their inner self—their old way of thinking] and turn to God, doing deeds and living lives which are consistent with repentance.

²¹Because of this some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²²But I have had help from God to this day, and I stand [before people] testifying to small and great alike, stating nothing except what the Prophets and Moses said would come to pass—

²³that the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) was to suffer, and that He by being the first to rise from the dead [with an incorruptible body] would proclaim light (salvation) both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

²⁴While Paul was making this defense, Festus said loudly, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great education is turning you toward madness."

²⁵But Paul replied, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent and noble Festus, but [with a sound mind] I am uttering rational words of truth and reason.

²⁶For [your majesty] the king understands these things, and [therefore] I am also speaking to him with confidence and boldness, since I am convinced that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner [hidden from view, in secret].

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the [writings of the] Prophets [their messages and words]? I know that you do."

²⁸Then Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time [and with so little effort] you [almost] persuade me to become a Christian."

²⁹And Paul replied, "Whether in a short time or long, I wish to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these chains."

³⁰Then the king stood up, and [with him] the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them;

³¹and after they had gone out, they began saying to one another, "This man is not doing anything worthy of death or [even] of imprisonment."

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar (Emperor Nero)."