Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

³When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;

⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.

⁶But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

⁷Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.

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

⁹But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.

¹¹Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’

¹²But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

¹⁴“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;

¹⁵to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

¹⁶The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.

¹⁷In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.

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

¹⁹After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’

²¹His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

²²And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’

²³His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

²⁴Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;

²⁵so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’

²⁶But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?

²⁷Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.

²⁸So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.

²⁹For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

³⁰As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer 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, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

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

³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?

³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’

⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

¹Abraham took 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 sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

⁵Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.

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

⁷This is the length of Abraham’s life, one hundred seventy-five years.

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

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

¹⁰the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with his wife Sarah.

¹¹After the death of Abraham God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

¹²These are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave-girl, bore to Abraham.

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

¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes.

¹⁷(This is the length of the life of Ishmael, one hundred thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.)

¹⁸They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled down alongside of all his people.

¹⁹These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,

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

²¹Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

²²The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

²³And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

²⁴When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.

²⁵The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.

²⁶Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

²⁸Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

³⁰Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.)

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

³²Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

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

²If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³This is my defense to those who would examine me.

⁴Do we not have the right to our food and drink?

⁵Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

⁷Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

⁸Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same?

⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?

¹⁰Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?

¹²If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

¹³Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?

¹⁴In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

¹⁵But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that — no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting!

¹⁶If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!

¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.

¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.

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

²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.

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

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

²⁴Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.

²⁵Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.

²⁶So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air;

²⁷but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

¹Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

²For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.

³If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.

⁴Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!

⁶And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,

⁸but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.

¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.

¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?

¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.

¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.

¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

²“Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.

³Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise?

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 sight,

⁶how much less a mortal, who is a maggot, and a human being, who is a worm!”

¹To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

²O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

³Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

⁴Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.

⁵Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

⁶Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!

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

⁹He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

¹⁰All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

¹¹For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

¹²Who are they that fear the LORD? He will teach them the way that they should choose.

¹³They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land.

¹⁴The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

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

¹⁷Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.

¹⁸Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

¹⁹Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.

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

²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

²²Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles.

¹These are other proverbs of Solomon that the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah copied.

²It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

³Like the heavens for height, like the earth for depth, so the mind of kings is unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel;

⁵take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great;

⁷for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen

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

⁹Argue your case with your neighbor directly, and do not disclose another’s secret;

¹⁰or else someone who hears you will bring shame upon you, and your ill repute will have no end.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

¹²Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise rebuke to a listening ear.

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest are faithful messengers to those who send them; they refresh the spirit of their masters.

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

¹⁵With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break bones.

¹⁶If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, or else, having too much, you will vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, otherwise the neighbor will become weary of you and hate you.

¹⁸Like a war club, a sword, or a sharp arrow is one who bears false witness against a neighbor.

¹⁹Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is trust in a faithless person in time of trouble.

²⁰Like vinegar on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. Like a moth in clothing or a worm in wood, sorrow gnaws at the human heart.

²¹If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;

²²for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.

²³The north wind produces rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

²⁴It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain are the righteous who give way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey, or to seek honor on top of honor.

²⁸Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control.

¹After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

²The LORD said, “Judah shall go up. I hereby give the land into his hand.”

³Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; then I too will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him.

⁴Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they defeated ten thousand of them at Bezek.

⁵They came upon Adoni-bezek at Bezek, and fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

⁶Adoni-bezek fled; but they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire.

⁹Afterward the people of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland.

¹⁰Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba); and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

¹¹From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher).

¹²Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife.”

¹³And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.

¹⁴When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?”

¹⁵She said to him, “Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also Gulloth-mayim.” So Caleb gave her Upper Gulloth and Lower Gulloth.

¹⁶The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad. Then they went and settled with the Amalekites.

¹⁷Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and devoted it to destruction. So the city was called Hormah.

¹⁸Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.

¹⁹The LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.

²⁰Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he drove out from it the three sons of Anak.

²¹But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem among the Benjaminites to this day.

²²The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel; and the LORD was with them.

²³The house of Joseph sent out spies to Bethel (the name of the city was formerly Luz).

²⁴When the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”

²⁵So he showed them the way into the city; and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.

²⁶So the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz; that is its name to this day.

²⁷Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.

²⁸When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not in fact drive them out.

²⁹And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.

³⁰Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.

³¹Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob;

³²but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

³³Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.

³⁴The Amorites pressed the Danites back into the hill country; they did not allow them to come down to the plain.

³⁵The Amorites continued to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.

³⁶The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

¹O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

²For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

⁴For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,

⁵the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.

⁶On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations;

⁸he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

⁹It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

¹⁰For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.

¹¹Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it, as swimmers spread out their hands to swim, their pride will be laid low despite the struggle of their hands.

¹²The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down, laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.

¹Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem

²where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews gave him a report against Paul. They appealed to him

³and requested, as a favor to them against Paul, to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, planning an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

⁵“So,” he said, “let those of you who have the authority come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶After he had stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

⁷When he arrived, the Jews who had gone down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.

⁸Paul said in his defense, “I have in no way committed an offense against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against the emperor.”

⁹But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?”

¹⁰Paul said, “I am appealing to the emperor’s tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know.

¹¹Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.”

¹²Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.”

¹³After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus.

¹⁴Since they were staying there several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix.

¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him and asked for a sentence against him.

¹⁶I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met the accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the charge.

¹⁷So when they met here, I lost no time, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I was expecting.

¹⁹Instead they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.

²¹But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor.”

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

²³So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then Festus gave the order and Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had done nothing deserving death; and when he appealed to his Imperial Majesty, I decided to send him.

²⁶But I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write —

²⁷for it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”