Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.

²When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do — blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.

³But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

⁴Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

⁵“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

⁶But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

⁷“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

⁸Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

⁹Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

¹⁰May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us today the food we need,

¹²and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

¹³And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

¹⁵But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

¹⁶“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.

¹⁷But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.

¹⁸Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

¹⁹“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁰Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

²¹Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

²²“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.

²³But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

²⁵“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?

²⁶Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

²⁷Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

²⁸“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing,

²⁹yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

³⁰And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

³¹“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’

³²These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

³³Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

³⁴“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

¹“The LORD has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the LORD has commanded.”

²So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the LORD and were eager to get to work.

³Moses gave them the materials donated by the people of Israel as sacred offerings for the completion of the sanctuary. But the people continued to bring additional gifts each morning.

⁴Finally the craftsmen who were working on the sanctuary left their work.

⁵They went to Moses and reported, “The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the LORD has commanded us to do!”

⁶So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: “Men and women, don’t prepare any more gifts for the sanctuary. We have enough!” So the people stopped bringing their sacred offerings.

⁷Their contributions were more than enough to complete the whole project.

⁸The skilled craftsmen made ten curtains of finely woven linen for the Tabernacle. Then Bezalel decorated the curtains with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim.

⁹All ten curtains were exactly the same size — 42 feet long and 6 feet wide.

¹⁰Five of these curtains were joined together to make one long curtain, and the other five were joined to make a second long curtain.

¹¹He made fifty loops of blue yarn and put them along the edge of the last curtain in each set.

¹²The fifty loops along the edge of one curtain matched the fifty loops along the edge of the other curtain.

¹³Then he made fifty gold clasps and fastened the long curtains together with the clasps. In this way, the Tabernacle was made of one continuous piece.

¹⁴He made eleven curtains of goat-hair cloth to serve as a tent covering for the Tabernacle.

¹⁵These eleven curtains were all exactly the same size — 45 feet long and 6 feet wide.

¹⁶Bezalel joined five of these curtains together to make one long curtain, and the other six were joined to make a second long curtain.

¹⁷He made fifty loops for the edge of each large curtain.

¹⁸He also made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the long curtains together. In this way, the tent covering was made of one continuous piece.

¹⁹He completed the tent covering with a layer of tanned ram skins and a layer of fine goatskin leather.

²⁰For the framework of the Tabernacle, Bezalel constructed frames of acacia wood.

²¹Each frame was 15 feet high and 27 inches wide,

²²with two pegs under each frame. All the frames were identical.

²³He made twenty of these frames to support the curtains on the south side of the Tabernacle.

²⁴He also made forty silver bases — two bases under each frame, with the pegs fitting securely into the bases.

²⁵For the north side of the Tabernacle, he made another twenty frames,

²⁶with their forty silver bases, two bases under each frame.

²⁷He made six frames for the rear — the west side of the Tabernacle —

²⁸along with two additional frames to reinforce the rear corners of the Tabernacle.

²⁹These corner frames were matched at the bottom and firmly attached at the top with a single ring, forming a single corner unit. Both of these corner units were made the same way.

³⁰So there were eight frames at the rear of the Tabernacle, set in sixteen silver bases — two bases under each frame.

³¹Then he made crossbars of acacia wood to link the frames, five crossbars for the north side of the Tabernacle

³²and five for the south side. He also made five crossbars for the rear of the Tabernacle, which faced west.

³³He made the middle crossbar to attach halfway up the frames; it ran all the way from one end of the Tabernacle to the other.

³⁴He overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. Then he overlaid the crossbars with gold as well.

³⁵For the inside of the Tabernacle, Bezalel made a special curtain of finely woven linen. He decorated it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim.

³⁶For the curtain, he made four posts of acacia wood and four gold hooks. He overlaid the posts with gold and set them in four silver bases.

³⁷Then he made another curtain for the entrance to the sacred tent. He made it of finely woven linen and embroidered it with exquisite designs using blue, purple, and scarlet thread.

³⁸This curtain was hung on gold hooks attached to five posts. The posts with their decorated tops and hooks were overlaid with gold, and the five bases were cast from bronze.

¹Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

²Please open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone, nor led anyone astray, nor taken advantage of anyone.

³I’m not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts, and we live or die together with you.

⁴I have the highest confidence in you, and I take great pride in you. You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all our troubles.

⁵When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside.

⁶But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

⁷His presence was a joy, but so was the news he brought of the encouragement he received from you. When he told us how much you long to see me, and how sorry you are for what happened, and how loyal you are to me, I was filled with joy!

⁸I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while.

⁹Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.

¹⁰For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

¹¹Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

¹²My purpose, then, was not to write about who did the wrong or who was wronged. I wrote to you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how loyal you are to us.

¹³We have been greatly encouraged by this. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was about the way all of you welcomed him and set his mind at ease.

¹⁴I had told him how proud I was of you — and you didn’t disappoint me. I have always told you the truth, and now my boasting to Titus has also proved true!

¹⁵Now he cares for you more than ever when he remembers the way all of you obeyed him and welcomed him with such fear and deep respect.

¹⁶I am very happy now because I have complete confidence in you.

¹Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers.

²Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.

³Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.

⁴But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God.

⁵Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help.

⁶But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.

⁷Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism.

⁸But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.

⁹A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband.

¹⁰She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good?

¹¹The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry.

¹²Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge.

¹³And if they are on the list, they will learn to be lazy and will spend their time gossiping from house to house, meddling in other people’s business and talking about things they shouldn’t.

¹⁴So I advise these younger widows to marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them.

¹⁵For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan.

¹⁶If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.

¹⁷Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”

¹⁹Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses.

²⁰Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others.

²¹I solemnly command you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the highest angels to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone.

²²Never be in a hurry about appointing a church leader. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

²³Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often.

²⁴Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later.

²⁵In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“God is powerful and dreadful. He enforces peace in the heavens.

³Who is able to count his heavenly army? Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth?

⁴How can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone born of a woman be pure?

⁵God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars.

⁶In comparison, people are maggots; we mortals are mere worms.”

¹I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.

²We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

³Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt.

⁴We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.

¹These are more proverbs of Solomon, collected by the advisers of King Hezekiah of Judah.

²It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

³No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth, or all that goes on in the king’s mind!

⁴Remove the impurities from silver, and the sterling will be ready for the silversmith.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s court, and his reign will be made secure by justice.

⁶Don’t demand an audience with the king or push for a place among the great.

⁷It’s better to wait for an invitation to the head table than to be sent away in public disgrace. Just because you’ve seen something,

⁸don’t be in a hurry to go to court. For what will you do in the end if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat?

⁹When arguing with your neighbor, don’t betray another person’s secret.

¹⁰Others may accuse you of gossip, and you will never regain your good reputation.

¹¹Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.

¹²To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry.

¹³Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer.

¹⁴A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.

¹⁵Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones.

¹⁶Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

¹⁷Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

¹⁸Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

²⁰Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound.

²¹If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.

²²You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.

²³As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

²⁴It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

²⁵Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.

²⁶If the godly give in to the wicked, it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.

²⁷It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

²⁸A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

¹Then Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, including their elders, leaders, judges, and officers. So they came and presented themselves to God.

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

³But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac.

⁴To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir, while Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

⁵“Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought terrible plagues on Egypt; and afterward I brought you out as a free people.

⁶But when your ancestors arrived at the Red Sea, the Egyptians chased after you with chariots and charioteers.

⁷When your ancestors cried out to the LORD, I put darkness between you and the Egyptians. I brought the sea crashing down on the Egyptians, drowning them. With your very own eyes you saw what I did. Then you lived in the wilderness for many years.

⁸“Finally, I brought you into the land of the Amorites on the east side of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I destroyed them before you. I gave you victory over them, and you took possession of their land.

⁹Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, started a war against Israel. He summoned Balaam son of Beor to curse you,

¹⁰but I would not listen to him. Instead, I made Balaam bless you, and so I rescued you from Balak.

¹¹“When you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them.

¹²And I sent terror ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory.

¹³I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build — the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.

¹⁴“So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone.

¹⁵But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

¹⁶The people replied, “We would never abandon the LORD and serve other gods.

¹⁷For the LORD our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us.

¹⁸It was the LORD who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the LORD, for he alone is our God.”

¹⁹Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

²⁰If you abandon the LORD and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.”

²¹But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!”

²²“You are a witness to your own decision,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses to what we have said.”

²³“All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey him alone.”

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the LORD.

²⁶Joshua recorded these things in the Book of God’s Instructions. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the terebinth tree beside the Tabernacle of the LORD.

²⁷Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the LORD said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.”

²⁸Then Joshua sent all the people away to their own homelands.

²⁹After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.

³⁰They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

³¹The people of Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him — those who had personally experienced all that the LORD had done for Israel.

³²The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of silver. This land was located in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph.

³³Eleazar son of Aaron also died. He was buried in the hill country of Ephraim, in the town of Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas.

¹This message came to me concerning Tyre: Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish, for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus are all true.

²Mourn in silence, you people of the coast and you merchants of Sidon. Your traders crossed the sea,

³sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the marketplace of the world.

⁴But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon, for Tyre, the fortress of the sea, says, “Now I am childless; I have no sons or daughters.”

⁵When Egypt hears the news about Tyre, there will be great sorrow.

⁶Send word now to Tarshish! Wail, you people who live in distant lands!

⁷Is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city? What a long history was yours! Think of all the colonists you sent to distant places.

⁸Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, that great creator of kingdoms? Her traders were all princes, her merchants were nobles.

⁹The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has done it to destroy your pride and bring low all earth’s nobility.

¹⁰Come, people of Tarshish, sweep over the land like the flooding Nile, for Tyre is defenseless.

¹¹The LORD held out his hand over the sea and shook the kingdoms of the earth. He has spoken out against Phoenicia, ordering that her fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He says, “Never again will you rejoice, O daughter of Sidon, for you have been crushed. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find no rest.”

¹³Look at the land of Babylonia — the people of that land are gone! The Assyrians have handed Babylon over to the wild animals of the desert. They have built siege ramps against its walls, torn down its palaces, and turned it to a heap of rubble.

¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish, for your harbor is destroyed!

¹⁵For seventy years, the length of a king’s life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life as in the song about the prostitute:

¹⁶Take a harp and walk the streets, you forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody and sing your songs so you will be remembered again.

¹⁷Yes, after seventy years the LORD will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will again be a prostitute to all kingdoms around the world.

¹⁸But in the end her profits will be given to the LORD. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the LORD’s priests.

¹After saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes and then went to Patara.

²There we boarded a ship sailing for Phoenicia.

³We sighted the island of Cyprus, passed it on our left, and landed at the harbor of Tyre, in Syria, where the ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week. These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When we returned to the ship at the end of the week, the entire congregation, including women and children, left the city and came down to the shore with us. There we knelt, prayed,

⁶and said our farewells. Then we went aboard, and they returned home.

⁷The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed for one day.

⁸The next day we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen to distribute food.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

¹⁰Several days later a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea.

¹¹He came over, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit declares, ‘So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, we and the local believers all begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

¹³But he said, “Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴When it was clear that we couldn’t persuade him, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this we packed our things and left for Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some believers from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to the home of Mnason, a man originally from Cyprus and one of the early believers.

¹⁷When we arrived, the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul went with us to meet with James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously.

²¹But the Jewish believers here in Jerusalem have been told that you are teaching all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of Moses. They’ve heard that you teach them not to circumcise their children or follow other Jewish customs.

²²What should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³“Here’s what we want you to do. We have four men here who have completed their vow.

²⁴Go with them to the Temple and join them in the purification ceremony, paying for them to have their heads ritually shaved. Then everyone will know that the rumors are all false and that you yourself observe the Jewish laws.

²⁵“As for the Gentile believers, they should do what we already told them in a letter: They should abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So Paul went to the Temple the next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual, so he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices would be offered for each of them.

²⁷The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him,

²⁸yelling, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He speaks against the Temple — and even defiles this holy place by bringing in Gentiles. ”

²⁹(For earlier that day they had seen him in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they assumed Paul had taken him into the Temple.)

³⁰The whole city was rocked by these accusations, and a great riot followed. Paul was grabbed and dragged out of the Temple, and immediately the gates were closed behind him.

³¹As they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He immediately called out his soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander arrested him and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some shouted one thing and some another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress.

³⁵As Paul reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent the soldiers had to lift him to their shoulders to protect him.

³⁶And the crowd followed behind, shouting, “Kill him, kill him!”

³⁷As Paul was about to be taken inside, he said to the commander, “May I have a word with you?” “Do you know Greek?” the commander asked, surprised.

³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and took 4,000 members of the Assassins out into the desert?”

³⁹“No,” Paul replied, “I am a Jew and a citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia, which is an important city. Please, let me talk to these people.”

⁴⁰The commander agreed, so Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic.