Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.

²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

⁴Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who also betrayed Him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, “Do not go on a roadto Gentiles, and do not enter a city of Samaritans;

⁶but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

⁷And as you go,preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heavenhas come near.’

⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

⁹Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts,

¹⁰or abag for your journey, or even twotunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is deserving of hissupport.

¹¹And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stayat his house until you leave that city.

¹²As you enter thehouse, give it yourgreeting.

¹³If the house is worthy, see that your blessing of peace comes upon it. But if it is not worthy,take back your blessing of peace.

¹⁴And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet.

¹⁵Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment, than for that city.

¹⁶“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves.

¹⁷But be on guard against people, for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues;

¹⁸and you will even be brought before governors and kings on My account, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

¹⁹But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you in that hour.

²⁰For it is not you who are speaking, but it is the Spirit of your Father who is speakingin you.

²¹“Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

²²And you will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

²³“But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

²⁴“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

²⁵It is enough for the disciple that he may become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the houseBeelzebul, how much more will they insult the members of his household!

²⁶“So do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

²⁷What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.

²⁸And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body inhell.

²⁹Are two sparrows not sold for anassarion? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

³⁰But even the hairs of your head are all counted.

³¹So do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.

³²“Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

³³But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵For I came to TURN A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW;

³⁶and A PERSON’S ENEMIES will be the members of his household.

³⁷“The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

³⁸And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

³⁹The one who has found hislife will lose it, and the one who has lost hislife on My account will find it.

⁴⁰“The one who receives you receives Me, and the one who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

⁴¹The one whoreceives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and the one whoreceives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person’s reward.

⁴²And whoever gives one of theselittle ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.

³You shall place the ark of the testimony there, and you shall screen off the ark with the veil.

⁴Then you shall bring in the table and arrange what belongs on it; and you shall bring in the lampstand and mount its lamps.

⁵You shall also set the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the testimony, and set up the curtain for the doorway to the tabernacle.

⁶And you shall set the altar of burnt offering in front of the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.

⁷Then you shall set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

⁸You shall also set up the courtyard all around and hang up the curtain for the gate of the courtyard.

⁹Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furnishings; and it shall be holy.

¹⁰You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.

¹¹And you shall anoint the basin and its stand, and consecrate it.

¹²Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

¹³And you shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve as a priest to Me.

¹⁴You shall also bring his sons and put tunics on them;

¹⁵and you shall anoint them just as you have anointed their father, so that they may serve as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a permanent priesthood throughout their generations.”

¹⁶So Moses did these things; according to all that the LORD had commanded him, so he did.

¹⁷Now in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.

¹⁸Moses erected the tabernacle and laid its bases, and set up its boards, and inserted its bars, and erected its pillars.

¹⁹And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁰Then he took the testimony and put it into the ark, and attached the poles to the ark, and put the atoning cover on top of the ark.

²¹He then brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up a veil for the covering, and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²²He also put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil.

²³And he set the arrangement of bread in order on it before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁴Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.

²⁵And he lighted the lamps before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁶Then he placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil;

²⁷and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁸Then he set up the curtain for the doorway of the tabernacle.

²⁹And he set the altar of burnt offering in front of the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁰He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing.

³¹From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet.

³²When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³³And he erected the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the curtain for the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.

³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

³⁵And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

³⁶Throughout their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out;

³⁷but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.

³⁸For throughout their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

¹I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.

²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate very well!

⁵For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.

⁶But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

⁷Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;

⁹and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brothers came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

¹²But what I am doing I will also continue to do, so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

¹⁶Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.

¹⁹For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.

²⁰For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, if anyone devours you, if anyone takes advantage of you, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone hits you in the face.

²¹To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I am speaking in foolishness—I too am bold.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea.

²⁶I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;

²⁷I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

³⁰If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

³²In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,

³³and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.

⁶For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

¹¹persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

¹²Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;

¹⁷so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

¹Job again took up his discourse and said,

²“Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;

³When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴Just as I was in the days of my youth, When the protection of God was over my tent;

⁵When the Almighty was still with me, And my children were around me;

⁶When my steps were bathed in cream, And the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat in the public square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the old men arose and stood.

⁹The leaders stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The voices of the prominent people were hushed, And their tongues stuck to their palates.

¹¹For when an ear heard, it called me blessed, And when an eye saw, it testified in support of me,

¹²Because I saved the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper.

¹³The blessing of the one who was about to perish came upon me, And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a headband.

¹⁵I was eyes to those who were blind, And feet to those who could not walk.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor, And I investigated the case which I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the wicked And rescued the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I will die with my family, And I will multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters, And dew lies on my branch all night.

²⁰My glory is ever new with me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹“To me they listened and waited, And they kept silent for my advice.

²²After my words they did not speak again, And my speech dropped on them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, And opened their mouths as for the late rain.

²⁴I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not look at my kindness ungraciously.

²⁵I chose a way for them and sat as chief, And lived as a king among the troops, As one who comforted the mourners.

¹Unless the LORD builds a house, They who build it labor in vain; Unless the LORD guards a city, The watchman stays awake in vain.

²It is futile for you to rise up early, To stay up late, To eat the bread of painful labor; This is how He gives to His beloved sleep.

³Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.

⁵Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

¹A person often rebuked who becomes obstinate Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king gives stability to the land by justice, But a person who takes bribes ruins it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.

⁶By wrongdoing an evil person is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; The wicked does not understand such concern.

⁸Arrogant people inflame a city, But wise people turn away anger.

⁹When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person, The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

¹⁰People of bloodshed hate the blameless person, But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A fool always loses his temper, But a wise person holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

¹³The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, wrongdoing increases; But the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

¹⁹A slave will not be instructed by words alone; For though he understands, there will be no response.

²⁰Do you see a person who is hasty with his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹One who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be rebellious.

²²An angry person stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.

²³A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴One who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, And one who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died.

²So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

³The sons of Israel cried out to the LORD; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

⁵She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.

⁶Now she sent word and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has indeed commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

⁷I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”

⁸Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day on which the LORD has handed Sisera over to you; behold, the LORD has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁵And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left.

¹⁷Now Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him.

²⁰And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’ ”

²¹But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.

²²And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he entered with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel.

²⁴And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed harder and harder upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had eliminated Jabin the king of Canaan.

¹On that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

²On that day, “A vineyard of beauty, sing of it!

³I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment. So that no one will damage it, I guard it night and day.

⁴I have no wrath. Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle, Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely.

⁵Or let him rely on My protection, Let him make peace with Me, Let him make peace with Me.”

⁶In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, And they will fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them? Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

⁸You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.

⁹Therefore through this Jacob’s wrongdoing will be forgiven; And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones; When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.

¹⁰For the fortified city is isolated, A homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.

¹¹When its limbs are dry, they are broken off; Women come and make a fire with them, For they are not a people of discernment, Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them. And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹²On that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel.

¹³It will come about also on that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

¹Festus, then, after arriving in the province, went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea three days later.

²And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with Festus,

³requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way).

⁴Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea, and that he himself was about to leave shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he *said, “have the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, have them bring charges against him.”

⁶After Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought.

⁷After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many, and serious, charges against him which they could not prove,

⁸while Paul said in his own defense, “I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.”

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

¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know.

¹¹If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea, paying their respects to Festus.

¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix;

¹⁵and when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

¹⁶I replied to them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any person before the accused meets his accusers face to face, and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges.

¹⁷So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered that the man be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not begin bringing any charges against him of crimes that I suspected,

¹⁹but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰And being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

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

²³So, on the next day when Agrippa and Bernice came amid great pomp and entered the auditorium, accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought before them.

²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had committed nothing deserving death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

²⁶Yet, I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”