Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

²Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples

³and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

⁴And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:

⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

⁶And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

⁷As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

⁸What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

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

¹⁰This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

¹¹Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,

¹⁴and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁶“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

¹⁷“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not 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 at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

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

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

²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

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

²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;

²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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

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

¹The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.

³“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.

⁴He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

⁵Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁶Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces,

⁷and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

⁸And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar;

⁹but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁰“If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish,

¹¹and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.

¹²And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar,

¹³but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴“If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons.

¹⁵And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar.

¹⁶He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.

¹⁷He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

³And I know that this man was caught up into paradise — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows —

⁴and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

⁵On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses —

⁶though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

⁷So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

¹²The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

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

¹⁶But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

¹⁷Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?

¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

²⁰For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish — that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

²¹I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

¹I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

²preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

³For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

⁵As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

⁶For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

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

⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

⁹Do your best to come to me soon.

¹⁰For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

¹²Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

¹³When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

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

¹⁵Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.

¹⁶At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and 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 remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.

²¹Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.

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

¹“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

²What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

³Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

⁴they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

⁵They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

⁶In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

⁸A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

¹⁰They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

¹¹Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

¹³They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

¹⁴As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

¹⁷The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

¹⁸With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

²¹You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

²³For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

²⁸I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

³¹My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

¹Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!

²You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

⁵The LORD bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

⁶May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.

²Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!

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

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,

⁹lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those — how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.

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

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”

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

²²a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

²³an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:

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

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

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

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

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

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;

³¹the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.

¹Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

²“That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the LORD!

³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the LORD I will sing; I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁴“LORD, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water.

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

⁶“In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.

⁷The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.

⁸When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD.

¹⁰“Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets and you who walk by the way.

¹¹To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. “Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.

¹²“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, break out in a song! Arise, Barak, lead away your captives, O son of Abinoam.

¹³Then down marched the remnant of the noble; the people of the LORD marched down for me against the mighty.

¹⁴From Ephraim their root they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen; from Machir marched down the commanders, and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant's staff;

¹⁵the princes of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar faithful to Barak; into the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁶Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.

¹⁸Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹“The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver.

²⁰From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!

²²“Then loud beat the horses' hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

²⁴“Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

²⁵He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.

²⁶She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell — dead.

²⁸“Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

²⁹Her wisest princesses answer, indeed, she answers herself,

³⁰‘Have they not found and divided the spoil? — A womb or two for every man; spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’

³¹“So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.” And the land had rest for forty years.

¹Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

²Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand.

³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot;

⁴and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.

⁵In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

⁶and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.

⁹“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?

¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

¹¹For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,

¹²to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.

¹³And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

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

¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

¹⁷And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

¹⁸Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

¹⁹As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

²¹For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed — strange is his deed! and to work his work — alien is his work!

²²Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.

²³Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.

²⁴Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border?

²⁶For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.

²⁷Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

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

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

³especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.

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

⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,

⁷to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!

⁸Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles — to whom I am sending you

¹⁸ to 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 place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

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

²²To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:

²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”

²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”

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