Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

²He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

³“Listen! A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.

⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

⁸Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

⁹And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;

¹²in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

¹⁸And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,

¹⁹but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

²⁰And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

²¹He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?

²²For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

²³Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

²⁵For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

²⁶He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,

²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?

³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

³⁴he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they may not profane my holy name; I am the LORD.

³Say to them: If anyone among all your offspring throughout your generations comes near the sacred donations, which the people of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he is in a state of uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.

⁴No one of Aaron’s offspring who has a leprous disease or suffers a discharge may eat of the sacred donations until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse or a man who has had an emission of semen,

⁵and whoever touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or any human being by whom he may be made unclean — whatever his uncleanness may be —

⁶the person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations unless he has washed his body in water.

⁷When the sun sets he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat of the sacred donations, for they are his food.

⁸That which died or was torn by wild animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the LORD.

⁹They shall keep my charge, so that they may not incur guilt and die in the sanctuary for having profaned it: I am the LORD; I sanctify them.

¹⁰No lay person shall eat of the sacred donations. No bound or hired servant of the priest shall eat of the sacred donations;

¹¹but if a priest acquires anyone by purchase, the person may eat of them; and those that are born in his house may eat of his food.

¹²If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the sacred donations;

¹³but if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, without offspring, and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No lay person shall eat of it.

¹⁴If a man eats of the sacred donation unintentionally, he shall add one-fifth of its value to it, and give the sacred donation to the priest.

¹⁵No one shall profane the sacred donations of the people of Israel, which they offer to the LORD,

¹⁶causing them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their sacred donations: for I am the LORD; I sanctify them.

¹⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

¹⁸Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them: When anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing in Israel presents an offering, whether in payment of a vow or as a freewill offering that is offered to the LORD as a burnt offering,

¹⁹to be acceptable in your behalf it shall be a male without blemish, of the cattle or the sheep or the goats.

²⁰You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable in your behalf.

²¹When anyone offers a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD, in fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, from the herd or from the flock, to be acceptable it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.

²²Anything blind, or injured, or maimed, or having a discharge or an itch or scabs — these you shall not offer to the LORD or put any of them on the altar as offerings by fire to the LORD.

²³An ox or a lamb that has a limb too long or too short you may present for a freewill offering; but it will not be accepted for a vow.

²⁴Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the LORD; such you shall not do within your land,

²⁵nor shall you accept any such animals from a foreigner to offer as food to your God; since they are mutilated, with a blemish in them, they shall not be accepted in your behalf.

²⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²⁷When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as the LORD’s offering by fire.

²⁸But you shall not slaughter, from the herd or the flock, an animal with its young on the same day.

²⁹When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that it may be acceptable in your behalf.

³⁰It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall not leave any of it until morning: I am the LORD.

³¹Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the LORD.

³²You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel: I am the LORD; I sanctify you,

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

¹Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

²Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

³At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison,

⁴so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.

⁵Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.

⁶Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

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

⁸I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts;

⁹he is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.

¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions — if he comes to you, welcome him.

¹¹And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills.

¹³For I testify for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.

¹⁴Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.

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

¹⁶And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea.

¹⁷And say to Archippus, “See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord.”

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

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

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.

⁴Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

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

⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

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

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

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

¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.

²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

¹All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them

²is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.

³This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.

⁶Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do.

⁸Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head.

⁹Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

¹¹Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.

¹²For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.

¹³I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

¹⁴There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

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

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

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

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

³Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.

⁴For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.

⁵Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.

⁶Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,

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

⁸to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,

⁹to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

²The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion; anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.

³It is honorable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴The lazy person does not plow in season; harvest comes, and there is nothing to be found.

⁵The purposes in the human mind are like deep water, but the intelligent will draw them out.

⁶Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?

⁷The righteous walk in integrity — happy are the children who follow them!

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?

¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹¹Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, then goes away and boasts.

¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by taking advice; wage war by following wise guidance.

¹⁹A gossip reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler.

²⁰If you curse father or mother, your lamp will go out in utter darkness.

²¹An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will help you.

²³Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.

²⁴All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

²⁵It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,” and begin to reflect only after making a vow.

²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them.

²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD, searching every inmost part.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by righteousness.

²⁹The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.

³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts.

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

²He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD.

⁴On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;

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

⁶Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb.

⁷So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

⁸Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

⁹After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

¹⁰She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly.

¹¹She made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

¹²As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

¹³Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

¹⁴So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.

¹⁶Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.”

¹⁷Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”

¹⁸And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

¹⁹They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

²⁰In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the LORD.”

²¹The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow.

²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the LORD, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.”

²³Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only — may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

²⁴When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young.

²⁵Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.

²⁶And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD.

²⁷For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him.

²⁸Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.” She left him there for the LORD.

¹Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.

³And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.”

⁵And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength —

⁶he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, “Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,” to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.” They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

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

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

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

¹⁷Your builders outdo your destroyers, and those who laid you waste go away from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall put all of them on like an ornament, and like a bride you shall bind them on.

¹⁹Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land — surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰The children born in the time of your bereavement will yet say in your hearing: “The place is too crowded for me; make room for me to settle.”

²¹Then you will say in your heart, “Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away — so who has reared these? I was left all alone — where then have these come from?”

²²Thus says the Lord GOD: I will soon lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?

²⁵But thus says the LORD: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued; for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.

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

¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

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

⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied —

⁷altogether there were about twelve of them.

⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

¹²so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

¹⁸Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.

¹⁹A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.

²⁰So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”

²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.

²⁴A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.

²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.

³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;

³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.

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

³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?

³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.

³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

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