Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

²And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

³His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

⁴And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

⁵But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

⁶He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

⁷And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

⁸So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

⁹And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

¹¹Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.

¹²When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,

¹³saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’

¹⁴And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.”

¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

¹⁷When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

¹⁸And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

¹Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

²Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

³“May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;

⁴And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.

⁸Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.

⁹So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

¹⁰Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

¹²Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

¹⁴Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

¹⁵Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁸Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,

²¹so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.

²²And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

¹Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

²You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.

³Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

⁵There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.

⁶And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

⁸for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

¹¹But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

¹²For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

¹³For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

¹⁴For in fact the body is not one member but many.

¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?

¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?

¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?

¹⁸But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

¹⁹And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

²⁰But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

²¹And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

²²No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

²³And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,

²⁴but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,

²⁵that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

²⁶And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

²⁸And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

³⁰Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

³¹But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

²elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,

⁷that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

⁸whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

⁹receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,

¹¹searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

¹²To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

¹³Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

¹⁴as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

¹⁵but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

¹⁶because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

¹⁷And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;

¹⁸knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

²⁰He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

²¹who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²²Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

²³having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

²⁴because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,

²⁵But the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the earth, And copper is smelted from ore.

³Man puts an end to darkness, And searches every recess For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from people; In places forgotten by feet They hang far away from men; They swing to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire;

⁶Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust.

⁷That path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.

⁸The proud lions have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks, And his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹He dams up the streams from trickling; What is hidden he brings forth to light.

¹²“But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It cannot be purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed for its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, For the price of wisdom is above rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living, And concealed from the birds of the air.

²²Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’

²³God understands its way, And He knows its place.

²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens,

²⁵To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure.

²⁶When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.

²⁸And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

¹A Psalm of David. [1] To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.

²Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

³Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts.

⁴Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.

⁵Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up.

⁶Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.

⁸The LORD is their strength, And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.

⁹Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, And bear them up forever.

¹The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.

²Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes; But by a man of understanding and knowledge Right will be prolonged.

³A poor man who oppresses the poor Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

⁴Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But such as keep the law contend with them.

⁵Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand all.

⁶Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

⁷Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son, But a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁸One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

⁹One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, He himself will fall into his own pit; But the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding searches him out.

¹²When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory; But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.

¹³He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

¹⁴Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

¹⁵Like a roaring lion and a charging bear Is a wicked ruler over poor people.

¹⁶A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

¹⁷A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit; Let no one help him.

¹⁸Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.

¹⁹He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!

²⁰A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good, Because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.

²²A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

²³He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward Than he who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs his father or his mother, And says, “It is no transgression,” The same is companion to a destroyer.

²⁵He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered.

²⁶He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

²⁷He who gives to the poor will not lack, But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked arise, men hide themselves; But when they perish, the righteous increase.

¹When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.

²So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim.

³And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

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

⁵And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;

⁷and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”

⁸And 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!”

⁹So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.

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

¹³So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD 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 alighted from his chariot and fled away 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 a man was left.

¹⁷However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.

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

²⁰And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”

²¹Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

²²And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

²³So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel.

²⁴And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

¹Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine!

²Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, Who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.

³The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Will be trampled underfoot;

⁴And the glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valley, Like the first fruit before the summer, Which an observer sees; He eats it up while it is still in his hand.

⁵In that day the LORD of hosts will be For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty To the remnant of His people,

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

⁷But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of vomit and filth; No place is clean.

⁹“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?

¹⁰For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.”

¹¹For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,

¹²To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” And, “This is the refreshing”; Yet they would not hear.

¹³But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” That they might go and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

¹⁷Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.

¹⁸Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.

¹⁹As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report.”

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch out on, And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.

²¹For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.

²²Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

²³Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.

²⁴Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place?

²⁶For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.

²⁷For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.

²⁸Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen.

²⁹This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

¹Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta.

²And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

⁴So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.”

⁵But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

⁷In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days.

⁸And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him.

⁹So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰They also honored us in many ways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary.

¹¹After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island.

¹²And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli,

¹⁴where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome.

¹⁵And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,

¹⁸who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death.

¹⁹But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation.

²⁰For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you.

²²But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.”

²³So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.

²⁴And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.

²⁵So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,

²⁶saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;

²⁷For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” ’

²⁸“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

²⁹And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves.

³⁰Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him,

³¹preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.