Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

²just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “BEHOLD, I AM SENDING MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;

³THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’ ”

⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

⁵And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁶John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.

⁷And he was preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals.

⁸I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

¹⁰And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him;

¹¹and a voice came from the heavens: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

¹²And immediately the Spirit *brought Him out into the wilderness.

¹³And He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving Him.

¹⁴Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of Godis at hand; repent andbelieve in the gospel.”

¹⁶As He was going along the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.

¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people.”

¹⁸Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

¹⁹And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, who were also in the boat mending the nets.

²⁰Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went away to follow Him.

²¹They *went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.

²²And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

²³Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

²⁴saying, “What business do you have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!”

²⁵And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”

²⁶After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him.

²⁷And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

²⁸Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

²⁹And immediately after they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately *spoke to Jesus about her.

³¹And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she served them.

³²Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.

³³And the whole city had gathered at the door.

³⁴And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

³⁵And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time.

³⁶Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him;

³⁷and they found Him and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”

³⁸He *said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may alsopreach there; for this is why I came.”

³⁹And He went into their synagogues preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons.

⁴⁰And a man with leprosy *came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,

⁴⁴and He *said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁴⁵But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

³Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.

⁴Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves cast metal gods; I am the LORD your God.

⁵‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

⁶It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, and on the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire.

⁷So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is unclean; it will not be accepted.

⁸And everyone who eats it will bear the consequences for his guilt, because he has profaned the holy thing of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

⁹‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

¹⁰And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

¹¹‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

¹²And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

¹³‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning.

¹⁴You shall not curse a person who is deaf, nor put a stumbling block before a person who is blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

¹⁵‘You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

¹⁶You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people; and you are not to jeopardize the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.

¹⁷‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may certainly rebuke your neighbor, but you are not to incur sin because of him.

¹⁸You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

¹⁹‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not cross-breed two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰‘Now if a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free.

²¹He shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD to the doorway of the tent of meeting, a ram as a guilt offering.

²²The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

²³‘Now when you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. For three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.

²⁴And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.

²⁵But in the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you; I am the LORD your God.

²⁶‘You shall not eat any meat with the blood. You shall not practice divination nor soothsaying.

²⁷You shall not round off the hairline of your heads, nor trim the edges of your beard.

²⁸You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.

²⁹‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and the land does not become full of outrageous sin.

³⁰You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD.

³¹‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

³²‘You shall stand up in the presence of the grayheaded and honor elders, and you shall fear your God; I am the LORD.

³³‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

³⁴The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

³⁵‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or volume.

³⁶You shall have accurate balances, accurate weights, an accurate ephah, and an accurate hin; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

³⁷So you shall keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them; I am the LORD.’ ”

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

⁴since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;

⁵because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel

⁶which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth;

⁷just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,

⁸and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

¹⁰so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

¹¹strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

¹³For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:

¹⁶for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

¹⁸He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

¹⁹For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

²⁰and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

²¹And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds,

²²yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

²³if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions in behalf of His body, which is the church.

²⁵I was made a minister of this church according to the commission from God granted to me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,

²⁶that is, the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints,

²⁷to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²⁸We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.

²⁹For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me.

¹What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—

²and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us—

³what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

⁴These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

⁵This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

⁷but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread among mankind:

²a person to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to enjoy these things, but a foreigner enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction.

³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

⁴for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness.

⁵It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet it is better off than that man.

⁶Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—do not all go to one and the same place?”

⁷All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not satisfied.

⁸For what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living?

⁹What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with the one who is mightier than he is.

¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person?

¹²For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person what will happen after him under the sun?

¹Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, my soul!

²I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³Do not trust in noblemen, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

⁴His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; On that very day his plans perish.

⁵Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁶Who made heaven and earth, The sea and everything that is in them; Who keeps faith forever;

⁷Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.

⁸The LORD opens the eyes of those who are blind; The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous.

⁹The LORD watches over strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

¹⁰The LORD will reign forever, Your God, Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

²And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain following one in whose eyes I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

³So she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

⁴Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you.” And they said to him, “May the LORD bless you.”

⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

⁶And the servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

⁷And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but join my young women here.

⁹Keep your eyes on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have ordered the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.”

¹⁰Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

¹¹Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.

¹²May the LORD reward your work, and may your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³Then she said, “I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not like one of your female servants.”

¹⁴And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

¹⁵When she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.

¹⁶Also you are to purposely slip out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it so that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸And she picked it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took some out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

²⁰Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living and from the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative; he is one of our redeemers.”

²¹Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You are to stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”

²²And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not assault you in another field.”

²³So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

¹Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their idols have become loads for the animals and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary animal.

²They stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.

³“Listen to Me, house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been carried by Me from birth And have been carried from the womb;

⁴Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will carry you! I have done it, and I will bear you; And I will carry you and I will save you.

⁵“To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal, and compare Me, That we would be alike?

⁶Those who lavish gold from the bag And weigh silver on the scale, Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it.

⁷They lift it on the shoulder, carry it, And set it in its place, and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may shout to it, it cannot answer; It cannot save him from his distress.

⁸“Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you wrongdoers.

⁹Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

¹⁰Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

¹¹Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a distant country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it.

¹²“Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness.

¹³I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel.

¹Now Paul also came to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,

²and he was well spoken of by the brothers and sisters who were in Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted this man to leave with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.

⁶They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;

⁷and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;

⁸and passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

⁹And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹So after setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis;

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were spending some days in this city.

¹³And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

¹⁴A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of Thyatira, and a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

¹⁵Now when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave woman who had a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling.

¹⁷She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.”

¹⁸Now she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was suddenly gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities,

²⁰and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble,

²¹and they are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice, since we are Romans.”

²²The crowd joined in an attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

²³When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;

²⁴and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

²⁶and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

²⁹And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas;

³⁰and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house.

³³And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

³⁴And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and was overjoyed, since he had become a believer in God together with his whole household.

³⁵Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.”

³⁶And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word that you be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “After beating us in public without due process—men who are Romans—they threw us into prison; and now they are releasing us secretly? No indeed! On the contrary, let them come in person and lead us out.”

³⁸The officers reported these words to the chief magistrates. And they became fearful when they heard that they were Romans,

³⁹and they came and pleaded with them, and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰They left the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brothers and sisters, they encouraged them and departed.