Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him.

²They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean  — that is, unwashed — hands.

³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders.

⁴When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches. )

⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?”

⁶He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁷ They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.

⁸Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.”

⁹He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition!

¹⁰For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

¹¹But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’” (that is, an offering devoted to God),

¹²“you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.

¹³You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”

¹⁴Summoning the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:

¹⁵Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

¹⁶

¹⁷When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him?

¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean ).

²⁰And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

²¹For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

²²adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

²³All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

²⁴He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice.

²⁵Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at his feet.

²⁶The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸But she replied to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹Again, leaving the region of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.

³²They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.

³³So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, he touched his tongue.

³⁴Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).

³⁵Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly.

³⁶He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.

³⁷They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

³You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years.

⁴But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year, a Sabbath to the LORD: you are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land.

⁶Whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year can be food for you — for yourself, your male or female slave, and the hired worker or alien who resides with you.

⁷All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.

⁸“You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine.

⁹Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement.

¹⁰You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.

¹¹The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines.

¹²It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field.

¹³“In this Year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property.

¹⁴If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another.

¹⁵You are to make the purchase from your neighbor based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. He is to sell to you based on the number of remaining harvest years.

¹⁶You are to increase its price in proportion to a greater amount of years, and decrease its price in proportion to a lesser amount of years, because what he is selling to you is a number of harvests.

¹⁷You are not to cheat one another, but fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸“You are to keep my statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land.

¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat, be satisfied, and live securely in the land.

²⁰If you wonder: ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’

²¹I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.

²²When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest. You will be eating this until the ninth year when its harvest comes in.

²³“The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine, and you are only aliens and temporary residents on my land.

²⁴You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

²⁵If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

²⁶If a man has no family redeemer, but he prospers and obtains enough to redeem his land,

²⁷he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man he sold it to, and return to his property.

²⁸But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the Year of Jubilee. It is to be released at the Jubilee, so that he may return to his property.

²⁹“If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his right of redemption will last until a year has passed after its sale; his right of redemption will last a year.

³⁰If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee.

³¹But houses in settlements that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem such houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

³²“Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.

³³Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem  — a house sold in a city they possess — is to be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

³⁴The open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.

³⁵“If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you, you are to support him as an alien or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not profit or take interest from him, but fear your God and let your brother live among you.

³⁷You are not to lend him your silver with interest or sell him your food for profit.

³⁸I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹“If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor.

⁴⁰Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he may work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹Then he and his children are to be released from you, and he may return to his clan and his ancestral property.

⁴²They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are my servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt.

⁴³You are not to rule over them harshly but fear your God.

⁴⁴Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you; you may purchase male and female slaves.

⁴⁵You may also purchase them from the aliens residing with you, or from their families living among you — those born in your land. These may become your property.

⁴⁶You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.

⁴⁷“If an alien or temporary resident living among you prospers, but your brother living near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the alien living among you, or to a member of the resident alien’s clan,

⁴⁸he has the right of redemption after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him.

⁴⁹His uncle or cousin may redeem him, or any of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him. If he prospers, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰The one who purchased him is to calculate the time from the year he sold himself to him until the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years. It will be set for him like the daily wages of a hired worker.

⁵¹If many years are still left, he must pay his redemption price in proportion to them based on his purchase price.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he will calculate and pay the price of his redemption in proportion to his remaining years.

⁵³He will stay with him like a man hired year by year. A resident alien is not to rule over him harshly in your sight.

⁵⁴If he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released at the Year of Jubilee.

⁵⁵For the Israelites are my servants. They are my servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

¹Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household.

³For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.

⁴Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

⁶But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works

¹⁰for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.”

¹¹So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”

¹²Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

¹³But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

¹⁴For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

¹⁵As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

¹⁶For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

¹⁷With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed?

¹⁹So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

¹The elder: To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

²Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.

³For I was very glad when fellow believers came and testified to your fidelity to the truth — how you are walking in truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.

⁵Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.

⁶They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God,

⁷since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans.

⁸Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

⁹I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.

¹⁰This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words. And he is not satisfied with that! He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

¹¹Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

¹²Everyone speaks well of Demetrius — even the truth itself. And we also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

¹³I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink.

¹⁴I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵Peace to you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.

¹So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;

²before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;

³on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,

⁴the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint.

⁵Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;

⁶before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well;

⁷and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”

⁹In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.

¹⁰The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately.

¹¹The sayings of the wise are like cattle prods, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.

¹²But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.

¹⁴For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

¹Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his Anointed One:

³“Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.”

⁴The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.

⁵Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath:

⁶“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

⁷I will declare the LORD’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.

⁹You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”

¹⁰So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth.

¹¹Serve the LORD with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling.

¹²Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite;

³don’t desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!

⁵As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

⁶Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food,

⁷for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong, and he will champion their cause against you.

¹²Apply yourself to discipline and listen to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold discipline from a youth; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with a rod, and you will rescue his life from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My innermost being will celebrate when your lips say what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead, always fear the LORD.

¹⁸For then you will have a future, and your hope will not be dashed.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course.

²⁰Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy — and do not sell — truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a wayward woman is a narrow well;

²⁸indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber and increases the number of unfaithful people.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.

³¹Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.

³⁴You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.”

¹And Samuel’s words came to all Israel. Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

²The Philistines lined up in battle formation against Israel, and as the battle intensified, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.

³When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD defeat us today before the Philistines? Let’s bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh. Then it will go with us and save us from our enemies.”

⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh to bring back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a loud shout that the ground shook.

⁶The Philistines heard the sound of the war cry and asked, “What’s this loud shout in the Hebrews’ camp?” When the Philistines discovered that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp,

⁷they panicked. “A god has entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, nothing like this has happened before.

⁸Woe to us, who will rescue us from these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

⁹Show some courage and be men, Philistines! Otherwise, you’ll serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”

¹⁰So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was severe — thirty thousand of the Israelite foot soldiers fell.

¹¹The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹²That same day, a Benjaminite man ran from the battle and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and there was dirt on his head.

¹³When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair beside the road watching, because he was anxious about the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the entire city cried out.

¹⁴Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” The man quickly came and reported to Eli.

¹⁵At that time Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes didn’t move because he couldn’t see.

¹⁶The man said to Eli, “I’m the one who came from the battle. I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.

¹⁷The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and also there was a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

¹⁸When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off the chair by the city gate, and since he was old and heavy, his neck broke and he died. Eli had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news about the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth because her labor pains came on her.

²⁰As she was dying, the women taking care of her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay attention.

²¹She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and to the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.

²²“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “because the ark of God has been captured.”

¹“Wake up, wake up; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer enter you.

²Stand up, shake the dust off yourself! Take your seat, Jerusalem. Remove the bonds from your neck, captive Daughter Zion.”

³For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without silver.”

⁴For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to reside there, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.

⁵So now what have I here” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “that my people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and my name is continually blasphemed all day long.

⁶Therefore my people will know my name; therefore they will know on that day that I am he who says: Here I am.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸The voices of your watchmen  — they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the LORD returns to Zion.

⁹Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has displayed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

¹¹Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

¹²For you will not leave in a hurry, and you will not have to take flight; because the LORD is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

¹³See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at you  — his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being —

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”

²When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.

³He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,

⁵as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹“Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus.

¹²Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,

¹³came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth,

¹⁵since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten.

²⁰And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’

²¹“He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”

²³As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said.

²⁸The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.