Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

²Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.

⁴The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.

⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹²“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

¹³“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

¹⁵To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

¹⁶The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.

¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.

¹⁸But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

²⁰The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²²“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?

²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸“ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.

²⁹For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

¹Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah.

²She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites.

⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.

⁶But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

⁷Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.

⁸Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.

⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,

¹⁰the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.

¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

¹²This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.

¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.

¹⁶These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.

¹⁷Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.

¹⁸His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them.

¹⁹This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac,

²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

²²The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

²³The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

²⁴When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

²⁵The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.

²⁶After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.

²⁸Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

³⁰He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

³²“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?

²Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me.

⁴Don’t we have the right to food and drink?

⁵Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

⁶Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk?

⁸Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

¹⁰Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

¹²If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

¹³Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?

¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast.

¹⁶For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.

¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.

²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

²⁶Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

²⁷No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

¹Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

²We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

³When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.

⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

⁵Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind,

⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

¹¹Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

¹²My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

¹⁵Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

³Can his forces be numbered? On whom does his light not rise?

⁴How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

⁵If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

⁶how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!”

¹Of David. In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.

²I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

⁴Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

⁵Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.

⁸Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

¹⁰All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.

¹¹For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹²Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

¹³They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land.

¹⁴The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

¹⁷Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.

¹⁸Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.

¹⁹See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

²¹May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.

²²Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

¹These are more proverbs of Solomon, compiled by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah:

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

³As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

⁴Remove the dross from the silver, and a silversmith can produce a vessel;

⁵remove wicked officials from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established through righteousness.

⁶Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men;

⁷it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. What you have seen with your eyes

⁸do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?

⁹If you take your neighbor to court, do not betray another’s confidence,

¹⁰or the one who hears it may shame you and the charge against you will stand.

¹¹Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.

¹²Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.

¹³Like a snow-cooled drink at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to the one who sends him; he refreshes the spirit of his master.

¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given.

¹⁵Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

¹⁶If you find honey, eat just enough— too much of it, and you will vomit.

¹⁷Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house— too much of you, and they will hate you.

¹⁸Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is one who gives false testimony against a neighbor.

¹⁹Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.

²⁰Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on a wound, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

²²In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

²³Like a north wind that brings unexpected rain is a sly tongue—which provokes a horrified look.

²⁴Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

²⁵Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

²⁶Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to search out matters that are too deep.

²⁸Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

¹After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”

²The LORD answered, “Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.”

³The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.

⁴When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.

⁵It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.

⁶Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

⁹After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.

¹⁰They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

¹¹From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

¹²And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”

¹³Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

¹⁴One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁵She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

¹⁶The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.

¹⁷Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.

¹⁸Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron—each city with its territory.

¹⁹The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.

²⁰As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.

²¹The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

²²Now the tribes of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

²³When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),

²⁴the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”

²⁵So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.

²⁶He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

²⁷But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.

²⁸When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

²⁹Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

³⁰Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor.

³¹Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob.

³²The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out.

³³Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.

³⁴The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.

³⁵And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

³⁶The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

¹LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

²You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

⁴You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall

⁵and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.

⁷On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;

⁸he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

⁹In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

¹⁰The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.

¹¹They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.

¹²He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.

¹Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,

²where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.

³They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.

⁵Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

⁶After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him.

⁷When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

⁸Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

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

¹⁰Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.

¹¹If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹²After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

¹³A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

¹⁴Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. He said: “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.

¹⁵When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned.

¹⁶“I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.

¹⁷When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.

¹⁸When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.

¹⁹Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.

²⁰I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.

²¹But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.” He replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”

²³The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

²⁴Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome.

²⁶But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write.

²⁷For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”