Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.

²When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him.

³This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain.

⁴Whenever he was put into chains and shackles — as he often was — he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

⁵Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

⁶When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him.

⁷With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!”

⁸For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”

⁹Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.”

¹⁰Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.

¹¹There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby.

¹²“Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”

¹³So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

¹⁴The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened.

¹⁵A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

¹⁶Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs.

¹⁷And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

¹⁸As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him.

¹⁹But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”

²⁰So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

²¹Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore.

²²Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet,

²³pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”

²⁴Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him.

²⁵A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding.

²⁶She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

²⁷She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe.

²⁸For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

²⁹Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

³⁰Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”

³¹His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

³²But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.

³³Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.

³⁴And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

³⁵While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”

³⁶But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

³⁷Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James).

³⁸When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing.

³⁹He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

⁴⁰The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying.

⁴¹Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!”

⁴²And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed.

⁴³Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the LORD’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly.

³“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the LORD’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.

⁴“In addition to the Sabbath, these are the LORD’s appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year.

⁵“The LORD’s Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month.

⁶On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the LORD continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast.

⁷On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly.

⁸For seven days you must present special gifts to the LORD. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly.”

⁹Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁰“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest.

¹¹On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the LORD so it may be accepted on your behalf.

¹²On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the LORD.

¹³With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering.

¹⁴Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

¹⁵“From the day after the Sabbath — the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering — count off seven full weeks.

¹⁶Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.

¹⁷From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the LORD as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the LORD from the first of your crops.

¹⁸Along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the LORD. These burnt offerings, together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁹Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering.

²⁰“The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the LORD, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the LORD, belong to the priests.

²¹That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

²²“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God.”

²³The LORD said to Moses,

²⁴“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet.

²⁵You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the LORD.”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses,

²⁷“Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month — nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the LORD.

²⁸Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the LORD your God.

²⁹All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people.

³⁰And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day.

³¹You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

³²This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.”

³³And the LORD said to Moses,

³⁴“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the appointed month — five days after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the LORD will last for seven days.

³⁵On the first day of the festival you must proclaim an official day for holy assembly, when you do no ordinary work.

³⁶For seven days you must present special gifts to the LORD. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the LORD. This will be a solemn occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day.

³⁷(“These are the LORD’s appointed festivals. Celebrate them each year as official days for holy assembly by presenting special gifts to the LORD — burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings — each on its proper day.

³⁸These festivals must be observed in addition to the LORD’s regular Sabbath days, and the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you give to fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to the LORD.)

³⁹“Remember that this seven-day festival to the LORD — the Festival of Shelters — begins on the fifteenth day of the appointed month, after you have harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest.

⁴⁰On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees — palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the LORD your God for seven days.

⁴¹You must observe this festival to the LORD for seven days every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month from generation to generation.

⁴²For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters.

⁴³This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

⁴⁴So Moses gave the Israelites these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the LORD.

¹Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

²And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

³The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

⁴This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

⁵For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ” God also said, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”

⁶And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”

⁷Regarding the angels, he says, “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire.”

⁸But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice.

⁹You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”

¹⁰He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing.

¹²You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever.”

¹³And God never said to any of the angels, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

¹⁴Therefore, angels are only servants — spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

²We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.

³Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

⁴For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

⁵And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross — not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.

⁷So we have these three witnesses —

⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood — and all three agree.

⁹Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.

¹⁰All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

¹¹And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

¹³I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

¹⁴And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

¹⁵And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

¹⁶If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.

¹⁷All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

¹⁸We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

¹⁹We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

²¹Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

¹As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.

²A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one.

³You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street!

⁴If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.

⁵There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake

⁶when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth.

⁷I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes — and princes walking like servants!

⁸When you dig a well, you might fall in. When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.

⁹When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you. When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.

¹⁰Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.

¹¹If a snake bites before you charm it, what’s the use of being a snake charmer?

¹²Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words.

¹³Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, so their conclusions will be wicked madness;

¹⁴they chatter on and on. No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.

¹⁵Fools are so exhausted by a little work that they can’t even find their way home.

¹⁶What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant, the land whose leaders feast in the morning.

¹⁷Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader and whose leaders feast at the proper time to gain strength for their work, not to get drunk.

¹⁸Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house.

¹⁹A party gives laughter, wine gives happiness, and money gives everything!

²⁰Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts. And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom. For a little bird might deliver your message and tell them what you said.

¹Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven!

²Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!

³Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp!

⁴Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!

⁵Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.

⁶Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!

¹The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases.

²People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart.

³The LORD is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.

⁴Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.

⁵Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

⁶Wealth created by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist and a deadly trap.

⁷The violence of the wicked sweeps them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

⁸The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road.

⁹It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

¹⁰Evil people desire evil; their neighbors get no mercy from them.

¹¹If you punish a mocker, the simpleminded become wise; if you instruct the wise, they will be all the wiser.

¹²The Righteous One knows what is going on in the homes of the wicked; he will bring disaster on them.

¹³Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.

¹⁴A secret gift calms anger; a bribe under the table pacifies fury.

¹⁵Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.

¹⁶The person who strays from common sense will end up in the company of the dead.

¹⁷Those who love pleasure become poor; those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.

¹⁸The wicked are punished in place of the godly, and traitors in place of the honest.

¹⁹It’s better to live alone in the desert than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife.

²⁰The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.

²¹Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²The wise conquer the city of the strong and level the fortress in which they trust.

²³Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

²⁴Mockers are proud and haughty; they act with boundless arrogance.

²⁵Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin, for their hands refuse to work.

²⁶Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!

²⁷The sacrifice of an evil person is detestable, especially when it is offered with wrong motives.

²⁸A false witness will be cut off, but a credible witness will be allowed to speak.

²⁹The wicked bluff their way through, but the virtuous think before they act.

³⁰No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the LORD.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

¹Then Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD! The LORD has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me.

²No one is holy like the LORD! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

³“Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the LORD is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions.

⁴The bow of the mighty is now broken, and those who stumbled are now strong.

⁵Those who were well fed are now starving, and those who were starving are now full. The childless woman now has seven children, and the woman with many children wastes away.

⁶The LORD gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.

⁷The LORD makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.

⁸He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the LORD’s, and he has set the world in order.

⁹“He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.

¹⁰Those who fight against the LORD will be shattered. He thunders against them from heaven; the LORD judges throughout the earth. He gives power to his king; he increases the strength of his anointed one.”

¹¹Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the LORD by assisting Eli the priest.

¹²Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD

¹³or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling,

¹⁴the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way.

¹⁵Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

¹⁶The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.”

¹⁷So the sin of these young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight, for they treated the LORD’s offerings with contempt.

¹⁸But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the LORD. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.

¹⁹Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice.

²⁰Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the LORD. ”

²¹And the LORD blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

²²Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

²³Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning?

²⁴You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the LORD’s people are not good.

²⁵If someone sins against another person, God can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the LORD was already planning to put them to death.

²⁶Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the LORD and with the people.

²⁷One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the LORD: “I revealed myself to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt.

²⁸I chose your ancestor Aaron from among all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests.

²⁹So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me — for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!

³⁰“Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.

³¹The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age.

³²You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days.

³³The few not cut off from serving at my altar will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break, and their children will die a violent death.

³⁴And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day!

³⁵“Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I desire. I will establish his family, and they will be priests to my anointed kings forever.

³⁶Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.’”

¹This is what the LORD says: “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors? No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

²Why was no one there when I came? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called? Is it because I have no power to rescue? No, that is not the reason! For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up! I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.

³I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.”

⁴The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.

⁵The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.

⁷Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to bring charges against me now? Where are my accusers? Let them appear!

⁹See, the Sovereign LORD is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God.

¹¹But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.

¹When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia.

²While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled down to Greece,

³where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.

⁶After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week.

⁷On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

⁸The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps.

⁹As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below.

¹⁰Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!”

¹¹Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left.

¹²Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

¹³Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him, while we traveled by ship.

¹⁴He joined us there, and we sailed together to Mitylene.

¹⁵The next day we sailed past the island of Kios. The following day we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day later we arrived at Miletus.

¹⁶Paul had decided to sail on past Ephesus, for he didn’t want to spend any more time in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to get to Jerusalem, if possible, in time for the Festival of Pentecost.

¹⁷But when we landed at Miletus, he sent a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come and meet him.

¹⁸When they arrived he declared, “You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now

¹⁹I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews.

²⁰I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes.

²¹I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike — the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me,

²³except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

²⁴But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus — the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again.

²⁶I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,

²⁷for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

²⁸“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock — his church, purchased with his own blood — over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.

²⁹I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

³¹Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you — my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

³²“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

³³“I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes.

³⁴You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.

³⁵And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶When he had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them.

³⁷They all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye.

³⁸They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they escorted him down to the ship.