Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

²And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.

³He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain;

⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.

⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.

⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him;

⁷and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

⁸For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

¹⁰He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

¹¹Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding;

¹²and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.”

¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened.

¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid.

¹⁶Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it.

¹⁷Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.

¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.

¹⁹But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”

²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

²¹When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.

²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet

²³and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”

²⁴So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.

²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.

²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.

²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,

²⁸for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”

²⁹Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

³²He looked all around to see who had done it.

³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

³⁵While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?”

³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”

⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.

⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals.

³Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a sabbath to the LORD throughout your settlements.

⁴These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them.

⁵In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a passover offering to the LORD,

⁶and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

⁷On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.

⁸For seven days you shall present the LORD’s offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.

⁹The LORD spoke to Moses:

¹⁰Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

¹¹He shall raise the sheaf before the LORD, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall raise it.

¹²On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD.

¹³And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.

¹⁴You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.

¹⁵And from the day after the sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete.

¹⁶You shall count until the day after the seventh sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the LORD.

¹⁷You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the LORD.

¹⁸You shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.

¹⁹You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being.

²⁰The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the LORD, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

²¹On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.

²²When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the LORD your God.

²³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²⁴Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts.

²⁵You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the LORD’s offering by fire.

²⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²⁷Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the LORD’s offering by fire;

²⁸and you shall do no work during that entire day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God.

²⁹For anyone who does not practice self-denial during that entire day shall be cut off from the people.

³⁰And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people.

³¹You shall do no work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.

³²It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.

³³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

³⁴Speak to the people of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of booths to the LORD.

³⁵The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.

³⁶Seven days you shall present the LORD’s offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the LORD’s offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.

³⁷These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD offerings by fire — burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day —

³⁸apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your votive offerings, and apart from all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.

³⁹Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the LORD, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day.

⁴⁰On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

⁴¹You shall keep it as a festival to the LORD seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations.

⁴²You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths,

⁴³so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

⁴⁴Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed festivals of the LORD.

¹Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,

²but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.

³He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?

⁶And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

¹⁰And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

¹¹they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing;

¹²like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end.”

¹³But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

⁷There are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.

⁹If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.

¹⁰Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.

¹¹And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

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

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

¹⁴And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

¹⁶If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one — to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that.

¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

¹⁸We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.

¹⁹We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

¹Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.

³Even when fools walk on the road, they lack sense, and show to everyone that they are fools.

⁴If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness will undo great offenses.

⁵There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler:

⁶folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.

⁷I have seen slaves on horseback, and princes walking on foot like slaves.

⁸Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a snake.

⁹Whoever quarries stones will be hurt by them; and whoever splits logs will be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, then more strength must be exerted; but wisdom helps one to succeed.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage in a charmer.

¹²Words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of fools consume them.

¹³The words of their mouths begin in foolishness, and their talk ends in wicked madness;

¹⁴yet fools talk on and on. No one knows what is to happen, and who can tell anyone what the future holds?

¹⁵The toil of fools wears them out, for they do not even know the way to town.

¹⁶Alas for you, O land, when your king is a servant, and your princes feast in the morning!

¹⁷Happy are you, O land, when your king is a nobleman, and your princes feast at the proper time — for strength, and not for drunkenness!

¹⁸Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.

¹⁹Feasts are made for laughter; wine gladdens life, and money meets every need.

²⁰Do not curse the king, even in your thoughts, or curse the rich, even in your bedroom; for a bird of the air may carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

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

²Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!

³Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!

⁴Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!

⁵Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

⁶Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

¹The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

²All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the LORD weighs the heart.

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴Haughty eyes and a proud heart — the lamp of the wicked — are sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.

⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.

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

⁸The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.

⁹It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

¹⁰The souls of the wicked desire evil; their neighbors find no mercy in their eyes.

¹¹When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wiser; when the wise are instructed, they increase in knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked; he casts the wicked down to ruin.

¹³If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret averts anger; and a concealed bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.

¹⁵When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers.

¹⁶Whoever wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want; whoever loves wine and oil will not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful wife.

²⁰Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.

²¹Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.

²²One wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold in which they trusted.

²³To watch over mouth and tongue is to keep out of trouble.

²⁴The proud, haughty person, named “Scoffer,” acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The craving of the lazy person is fatal, for lazy hands refuse to labor.

²⁶All day long the wicked covet, but the righteous give and do not hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when brought with evil intent.

²⁸A false witness will perish, but a good listener will testify successfully.

²⁹The wicked put on a bold face, but the upright give thought to their ways.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, can avail against the LORD.

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

¹Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory.

²“There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

³Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

⁴The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.

⁵Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

⁶The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts.

⁸He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world.

⁹“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail.

¹⁰The LORD! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.”

¹¹Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the boy remained to minister to the LORD, in the presence of the priest Eli.

¹²Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD

¹³or for the duties of the priests to the people. When anyone offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,

¹⁴and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

¹⁵Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

¹⁶And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take whatever you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now; if not, I will take it by force.”

¹⁷Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD; for they treated the offerings of the LORD with contempt.

¹⁸Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy wearing a linen ephod.

¹⁹His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

²⁰Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the LORD repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the LORD”; and then they would return to their home.

²¹And the LORD took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

²²Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

²³He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.

²⁴No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad.

²⁵If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the LORD; but if someone sins against the LORD, who can make intercession?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the LORD to kill them.

²⁶Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.

²⁷A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus the LORD has said, ‘I revealed myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh.

²⁸I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.

²⁹Why then look with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’

³⁰Therefore the LORD the God of Israel declares: ‘I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me forever’; but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt.

³¹See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family, so that no one in your family will live to old age.

³²Then in distress you will look with greedy eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed upon Israel; and no one in your family shall ever live to old age.

³³The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his eyes and grieve his heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.

³⁴The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you — both of them shall die on the same day.

³⁵I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever.

³⁶Everyone who is left in your family shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and shall say, Please put me in one of the priest’s places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.’”

¹Thus says the LORD: Where is your mother’s bill of divorce with which I put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? No, because of your sins you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was put away.

²Why was no one there when I came? Why did no one answer when I called? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? By my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.

⁴The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens — wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

⁵The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.

⁶I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

⁷The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

⁸he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.

⁹It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his God?

¹¹But all of you are kindlers of fire, lighters of firebrands. Walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled! This is what you shall have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples; and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left for Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece,

³where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.

⁵They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas;

⁶but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting.

⁹A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

¹¹Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left.

¹²Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.

¹³We went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for he had made this arrangement, intending to go by land himself.

¹⁴When he met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene.

¹⁵We sailed from there, and on the following day we arrived opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; he was eager to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

²²And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,

²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

²⁹I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them.

³¹Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears.

³²And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions.

³⁵In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

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

³⁷There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.