Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.

²Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.

³Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.

⁴And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

⁶And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?

¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,

¹¹“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

¹²Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

¹³Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.

¹⁴As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

¹⁵Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.

¹⁶And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

¹⁸The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

²³Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.

²⁴And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:

²⁶how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

²⁷And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

³I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name.

⁴And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him,

⁵then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

⁶‘And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.

⁷Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

⁸And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

⁹‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.

¹⁰‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

¹¹The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them.

¹³If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

¹⁴If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.

¹⁵If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.

¹⁶If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁷‘If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his guilt.

¹⁸If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from their people.

¹⁹‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt.

²⁰If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

²¹If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

²²‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.

²³And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.

²⁴But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

²⁵You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

²⁶And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

²⁷‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

¹For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

²that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.

⁵For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

⁷rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

⁸Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

⁹For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

¹¹In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

¹²buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

¹³And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

¹⁴having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

¹⁵Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

¹⁷which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

¹⁹and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

²¹“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

²²which all concern things which perish with the using— according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

²³These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

¹My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

²And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

³Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

⁴He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

⁵But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

⁶He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

⁷Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

⁹He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.

¹⁰He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

¹³I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

¹⁷And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

¹⁸Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

²⁴Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.

²⁷But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

²⁸And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

¹A good name is better than precious ointment, And the day of death than the day of one’s birth;

²Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

⁶For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason, And a bribe debases the heart.

⁸The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance, And profitable to those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

¹³Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

¹⁶Do not be overly righteous, Nor be overly wise: Why should you destroy yourself?

¹⁷Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you grasp this, And also not remove your hand from the other; For he who fears God will escape them all.

¹⁹Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.

²⁰For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.

²¹Also do not take to heart everything people say, Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

²²For many times, also, your own heart has known That even you have cursed others.

²³All this I have proved by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; But it was far from me.

²⁴As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, Who can find it out?

²⁵I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness and madness.

²⁶And I find more bitter than death The woman whose heart is snares and nets, Whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

²⁷Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher, “Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

²⁸Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find: One man among a thousand I have found, But a woman among all these I have not found.

²⁹Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.”

¹Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

²The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

³He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

⁴He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.

⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

⁶The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

⁷Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,

⁸Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

⁹He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry.

¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.

¹²Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

¹³For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.

¹⁴He makes peace in your borders, And fills you with the finest wheat.

¹⁵He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.

¹⁶He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;

¹⁷He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?

¹⁸He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

¹⁹He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.

²⁰He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!

¹A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.

³When the wicked comes, contempt comes also; And with dishonor comes reproach.

⁴The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.

⁵It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

⁶A fool’s lips enter into contention, And his mouth calls for blows.

⁷A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul.

⁸The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body.

⁹He who is slothful in his work Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.

¹¹The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own esteem.

¹²Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility.

¹³He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

¹⁵The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.

¹⁷The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him.

¹⁸Casting lots causes contentions to cease, And keeps the mighty apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

²³The poor man uses entreaties, But the rich answers roughly.

²⁴A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

¹Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

²Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

³Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

⁴Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.”

⁵And she said to her, “All that you say to me I will do.”

⁶So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her.

⁷And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

⁸Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet.

⁹And he said, “Who are you?” So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.”

¹⁰Then he said, “Blessed are you of the LORD, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich.

¹¹And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.

¹²Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I.

¹³Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the LORD lives! Lie down until morning.”

¹⁴So she lay at his feet until morning, and she arose before one could recognize another. Then he said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

¹⁵Also he said, “Bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.” And when she held it, he measured six ephahs of barley, and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.

¹⁶When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “Is that you, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her.

¹⁷And she said, “These six ephahs of barley he gave me; for he said to me, ‘Do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’ ”

¹⁸Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”

¹“Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called Tender and delicate.

²Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.

³Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, And I will not arbitrate with a man.”

⁴As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

⁵“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you shall no longer be called The Lady of Kingdoms.

⁶I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.

⁷And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.

⁸“Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, Who dwell securely, Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know the loss of children’;

⁹But these two things shall come to you In a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness Because of the multitude of your sorceries, For the great abundance of your enchantments.

¹⁰“For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, ‘No one sees me’; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

¹¹Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.

¹²“Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth— Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail.

¹³You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you.

¹⁴Behold, they shall be as stubble, The fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver themselves From the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, Nor a fire to sit before!

¹⁵Thus shall they be to you With whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; They shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.

¹Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

⁴And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

⁵But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

⁷Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”

⁸And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

⁹So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

¹⁰Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.

¹⁵So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

¹⁶Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

¹⁷Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?

²⁰For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

²²Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

²³for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

²⁴“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

²⁵Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

²⁶And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁷so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³²And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

³³So Paul departed from among them.

³⁴However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.