Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.

²He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.

⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.

⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

⁹Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

¹⁰When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

¹¹He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables

¹²so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”

¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?

¹⁴The farmer sows the word.

¹⁵Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

¹⁶Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.

¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

¹⁸Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;

¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

²⁰Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

²¹He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?

²²For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.

²³If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

²⁴“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.

²⁵Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

²⁶He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.

²⁷Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

²⁸All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.

²⁹As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?

³¹It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.

³²Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

³³With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.

³⁴He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

³⁵That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

³⁶Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

³⁷A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

³⁸Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

³⁹He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

⁴⁰He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the LORD.

³“Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.

⁴“ ‘If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen,

⁵or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be.

⁶The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

⁷When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food.

⁸He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the LORD.

⁹“ ‘The priests are to perform my service in such a way that they do not become guilty and die for treating it with contempt. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.

¹⁰“ ‘No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it.

¹¹But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if slaves are born in his household, they may eat his food.

¹²If a priest’s daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions.

¹³But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father’s household as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat it.

¹⁴“ ‘Anyone who eats a sacred offering by mistake must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it.

¹⁵The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the LORD

¹⁶by allowing them to eat the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt requiring payment. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.’ ”

¹⁷The LORD said to Moses,

¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘If any of you—whether an Israelite or a foreigner residing in Israel—presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering,

¹⁹you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf.

²⁰Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the LORD to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable.

²²Do not offer to the LORD the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as a food offering presented to the LORD.

²³You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow.

²⁴You must not offer to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land,

²⁵and you must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects.’ ”

²⁶The LORD said to Moses,

²⁷“When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD.

²⁸Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

²⁹“When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.

³⁰It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the LORD.

³¹“Keep my commands and follow them. I am the LORD.

³²Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who made you holy

³³and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”

¹Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

³And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

⁴Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

⁵Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

⁷Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

⁸I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.

⁹He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

¹⁰My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)

¹¹Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me.

¹²Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

¹³I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.

¹⁵Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

¹⁶After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.

¹⁷Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”

¹⁸I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

⁴You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

¹⁷This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

²¹And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

¹So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

²All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

³This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

⁴Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

⁶Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

⁸Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

⁹Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

¹²Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

¹³I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:

¹⁴There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

¹⁵Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.

¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

¹Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

²Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

³Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

⁴For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

⁵Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

⁶May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,

⁷to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,

⁸to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,

⁹to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the LORD.

¹Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²A king’s wrath strikes terror like the roar of a lion; those who anger him forfeit their lives.

³It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

⁵The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

⁶Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?

⁷The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.

⁸When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures— the LORD detests them both.

¹¹Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright?

¹²Ears that hear and eyes that see— the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.

¹⁴“It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer— then goes off and boasts about the purchase.

¹⁵Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance.

¹⁹A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.

²⁰If someone curses their father or mother, their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

²¹An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end.

²²Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

²³The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.

²⁴A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?

²⁵It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows.

²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD that sheds light on one’s inmost being.

²⁸Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.

³⁰Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.

¹There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

²He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD.

⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.

⁶Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.

⁷This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

⁸Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house.

¹⁰In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹²As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk

¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.

¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

²⁰So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

²¹When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,

²²Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

²³“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

²⁵When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli,

²⁶and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

²⁷I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

²⁸So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

¹Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”

⁵And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—

⁶he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

⁷This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

⁹to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.

¹²See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.”

¹³Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

¹⁶See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

¹⁷Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.

²⁰The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’ ”

²²This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.

²³Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

²⁴Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce?

²⁵But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

¹While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples

²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”

¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done.

¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

²¹After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.”

²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

²⁴A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.

²⁵He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.

²⁶And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.

²⁷There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together.

³⁰Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.

³¹Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

³²The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.

³³The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people.

³⁴But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

³⁶Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.

³⁸If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges.

³⁹If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.

⁴⁰As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.”

⁴¹After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.