Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

²Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples

³and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

⁵The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,

⁶and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”

⁷As these men were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?

⁸What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who wear soft clothes are in royal palaces.

⁹What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.

¹¹“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force.

¹³For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

¹⁴And if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come.

¹⁵Let anyone who has ears listen.

¹⁶“To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children:

¹⁷We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn!

¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent:

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago.

²²But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

²⁴But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants.

²⁶Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.

²⁷All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

¹Then the LORD summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting:

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the LORD from the livestock, you may bring your offering from the herd or the flock.

³“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to bring an unblemished male. He will bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting so that he may be accepted by the LORD.

⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering so it can be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.

⁵He is to slaughter the bull before the LORD; Aaron’s sons the priests are to present the blood and splatter it on all sides of the altar that is at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁶Then he is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.

⁷The sons of Aaron the priest will prepare a fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

⁸Aaron’s sons the priests are to arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat on top of the burning wood on the altar.

⁹The offerer is to wash its entrails and legs with water. Then the priest will burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁰“But if his offering for a burnt offering is from the flock, from sheep or goats, he is to present an unblemished male.

¹¹He will slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD. Aaron’s sons the priests will splatter its blood against the altar on all sides.

¹²He will cut the animal into pieces with its head and its fat, and the priest will arrange them on top of the burning wood on the altar.

¹³But he is to wash the entrails and legs with water. The priest will then present all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴“If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, he is to present his offering from the turtledoves or young pigeons.

¹⁵Then the priest is to bring it to the altar, and will twist off its head and burn it on the altar; its blood should be drained at the side of the altar.

¹⁶He will remove its digestive tract, cutting off the tail feathers, and throw it on the east side of the altar at the place for ashes.

¹⁷He will tear it open by its wings without dividing the bird. Then the priest is to burn it on the altar on top of the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹Boasting is necessary. It is not profitable, but I will move on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows.

³I know that this man — whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know; God knows —

⁴was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak.

⁵I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses.

⁶For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me,

⁷especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.

⁸Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me.

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

¹⁰So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have been a fool; you forced it on me. You ought to have commended me, since I am not in any way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

¹²The signs of an apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders and miracles.

¹³So in what way are you worse off than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me for this wrong!

¹⁴Look, I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, since I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children ought not save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶Now granted, I did not burden you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!

¹⁷Did I take advantage of you by any of those I sent you?

¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we were defending ourselves to you? No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.

²⁰For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and you may not find me to be what you want. Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

²¹I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality they practiced.

¹I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:

²Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.

³For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.

⁴They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

⁵But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

⁶For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

⁸There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

⁹Make every effort to come to me soon,

¹⁰because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry.

¹²I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

¹³When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with Carpus, as well as the scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works.

¹⁵Watch out for him yourself because he strongly opposed our words.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.

¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.

²⁰Erastus has remained at Corinth; I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.

²¹Make every effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers and sisters.

²²The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

¹But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.

²What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.

³Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night.

⁴They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were banished from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

⁶They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

⁷They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles.

⁸Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land.

⁹Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.

¹⁰They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me.

¹³They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them.

¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins.

¹⁵Terrors are turned loose against me; they chase my dignity away like the wind, and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

¹⁶Now my life is poured out before me, and days of suffering have seized me.

¹⁷Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸My clothing is distorted with great force; he chokes me by the neck of my garment.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me; when I stand up, you merely look at me.

²¹You have turned against me with cruelty; you harass me with your strong hand.

²²You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; you scatter me in the storm.

²³Yes, I know that you will lead me to death — the place appointed for all who live.

²⁴Yet no one would stretch out his hand against a ruined person when he cries out to him for help because of his distress.

²⁵Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness came.

²⁷I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me.

²⁸I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

²⁹I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin blackens and flakes off, and my bones burn with fever.

³¹My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

¹A song of ascents. [1] How happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!

²You will surely eat what your hands have worked for. You will be happy, and it will go well for you.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children, like young olive trees around your table.

⁴In this very way the man who fears the LORD will be blessed.

⁵May the LORD bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life

⁶and will see your children’s children! Peace be with Israel.

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The pronouncement. The man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand.

³I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son — if you know?

⁵Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Don’t add to his words, or he will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you; don’t deny them to me before I die:

⁸Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need.

⁹Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, “Who is the LORD?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.

¹⁰Don’t slander a servant to his master or he will curse you, and you will become guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filth.

¹³There is a generation — how haughty its eyes and pretentious its looks.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, devouring the oppressed from the land and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!” Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough!”:

¹⁶Sheol; a childless womb; earth, which is never satisfied with water; and fire, which never says, “Enough!”

¹⁷As for the eye that ridicules a father and despises obedience to a mother, may ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures eat it.

¹⁸Three things are too wondrous for me; four I can’t understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

²¹The earth trembles under three things; it cannot bear up under four:

²²a servant when he becomes king, a fool when he is stuffed with food,

²³an unloved woman when she marries, and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵ants are not a strong people, yet they store up their food in the summer;

²⁶hyraxes are not a mighty people, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷locusts have no king, yet all of them march in ranks;

²⁸a lizard can be caught in your hands, yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

²⁹Three things are stately in their stride; four are stately in their walk:

³⁰a lion, which is mightiest among beasts and doesn’t retreat before anything;

³¹a strutting rooster; a goat; and a king at the head of his army.

³²If you have been foolish by exalting yourself or if you’ve been scheming, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For the churning of milk produces butter, and twisting a nose draws blood, and stirring up anger produces strife.

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:

²When the leaders lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, blessed be the LORD.

³Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

⁴LORD, when you came from Seir, when you marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, the skies poured rain, and the clouds poured water.

⁵The mountains melted before the LORD, even Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the main roads were deserted because travelers kept to the side roads.

⁷Villages were deserted, they were deserted in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸Israel chose new gods, then there was war in the city gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers of the people. Blessed be the LORD!

¹⁰You who ride on white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and who travel on the road, give praise!

¹¹Let them tell the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of his warriors in Israel, with the voices of the singers at the watering places. Then the LORD’s people went down to the city gates.

¹²“Awake! Awake, Deborah! Awake! Awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!”

¹³Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the LORD’s people came down to me with the warriors.

¹⁴Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim; Benjamin came with your people after you. The leaders came down from Machir, and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was with Barak; they were under his leadership in the valley. There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheep pens listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁷Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger at the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.

¹⁸The people of Zebulun defied death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, but they did not plunder the silver.

²⁰The stars fought from the heavens; the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul, in strength!

²²The horses’ hooves then hammered — the galloping, galloping of his stallions.

²³“Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the LORD, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD with the warriors.”

²⁴Jael is most blessed of women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.

²⁵He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.

²⁶She reached for a tent peg, her right hand, for a workman’s hammer. Then she hammered Sisera — she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet; he collapsed, he fell between her feet; where he collapsed, there he fell — dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice, crying out: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”

²⁹Her wisest princesses answer her; she even answers herself:

³⁰“Are they not finding and dividing the spoil — a girl or two for each warrior, the spoil of colored garments for Sisera, the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”

³¹LORD, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did. But may those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its strength. And the land had peace for forty years.

¹Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. Woe to those overcome with wine.

²Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one  — like a devastating hail storm, like a storm with strong flooding water. He will bring it across the land with his hand.

³The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

⁴The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.

⁵On that day the LORD of Armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of his people,

⁶a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.

⁷Even these stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in their visions, they stumble in their judgments.

⁸Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.

⁹Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants just weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?

¹⁰“Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there.”

¹¹For he will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

¹²He had said to them: “This is the place of rest; let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.

¹³The word of the LORD will come to them: “Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there,” so they go stumbling backward, to be broken, trapped, and captured.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

¹⁵For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death, and we have an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery.”

¹⁶Therefore the Lord GOD said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.

¹⁷And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.” Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.

¹⁸Your covenant with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, you will be trampled.

¹⁹Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning — every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message.

²⁰Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and its cover too small to wrap up in.

²¹For the LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim. He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his unexpected work, and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.

²²So now, do not scoff, or your shackles will become stronger. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Armies a decree of destruction for the whole land.

²³Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

²⁴Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border.

²⁶His God teaches him order; he instructs him.

²⁷Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the LORD of Armies. He gives wondrous advice; he gives great wisdom.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

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

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”