Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.

²They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating.

³(The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions.

⁴Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to — such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. )

⁵So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”

⁶Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

⁷Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’

⁸For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

⁹Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.

¹⁰For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’

¹¹But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’

¹²In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents.

¹³And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

¹⁴Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand.

¹⁵It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart. ”

¹⁶

¹⁷Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.

¹⁸“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?

¹⁹Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

²⁰And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.

²¹For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

²²adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

²³All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

²⁴Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret.

²⁵Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit,

²⁶and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia,

²⁷Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children — my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”

²⁹“Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns.

³²A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.

³³Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue.

³⁴Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!”

³⁵Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!

³⁶Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news.

³⁷They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.”

¹While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD said to him,

²“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the LORD every seventh year.

³For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops,

⁴but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the LORD’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year.

⁵And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

⁶But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you.

⁷Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.

⁸“In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all.

⁹Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land.

¹⁰Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan.

¹¹This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines.

¹²It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own.

¹³In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors.

¹⁴“When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other.

¹⁵When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee.

¹⁶The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests.

¹⁷Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations.

¹⁹Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.

²⁰But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’

²¹Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years.

²²When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.

²³“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.

²⁴“With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back.

²⁵If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him.

²⁶If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back,

²⁷he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land.

²⁸But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.

²⁹“Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back.

³⁰But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

³¹But a house in a village — a settlement without fortified walls — will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

³²“The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them.

³³And any property that is sold by the Levites — all houses within the Levitical towns — must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.

³⁴The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.

³⁵“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you.

³⁶Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative.

³⁷Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him.

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 one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave.

⁴⁰Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors.

⁴²The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves.

⁴³Show your fear of God by not treating them harshly.

⁴⁴“However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you.

⁴⁵You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property,

⁴⁶passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.

⁴⁷“Suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Israelites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family,

⁴⁸they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother,

⁴⁹an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back. They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered.

⁵⁰They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next Year of Jubilee — whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time.

⁵¹If many years still remain until the jubilee, they will repay the proper proportion of what they received when they sold themselves.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption.

⁵³The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly.

⁵⁴If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time.

⁵⁵For the people of Israel belong to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

¹And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest.

²For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.

³But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself.

⁴For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later.

⁶But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.

⁷That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice,

⁸don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.

⁹There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.

¹⁰So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’

¹¹So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

¹²Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.

¹³You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

¹⁴For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

¹⁵Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”

¹⁶And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt?

¹⁷And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him?

¹⁹So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

¹This letter is from John, the elder. I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

²Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.

³Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth.

⁴I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

⁵Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you.

⁶They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God.

⁷For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers.

⁸So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

⁹I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us.

¹⁰When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.

¹¹Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

¹²Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius, as does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth.

¹³I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to write it with pen and ink.

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

¹⁵Peace be with you. Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there.

¹Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”

²Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.

³Remember him before your legs — the guards of your house — start to tremble; and before your shoulders — the strong men — stoop. Remember him before your teeth — your few remaining servants — stop grinding; and before your eyes — the women looking through the windows — see dimly.

⁴Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.

⁵Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.

⁶Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.

⁷For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

⁸“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”

⁹Keep this in mind: The Teacher was considered wise, and he taught the people everything he knew. He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them.

¹⁰The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.

¹¹The words of the wise are like cattle prods — painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.

¹²But, my child, let me give you some further advice: Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out.

¹³That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

¹⁴God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

¹Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans?

²The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one.

³“Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

⁴But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

⁵Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury.

⁶For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”

⁷The king proclaims the LORD’s decree: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.

⁸Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.

⁹You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’”

¹⁰Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

¹¹Serve the LORD with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹²Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities — for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

¹While dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you.

²If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat;

³don’t desire all the delicacies, for he might be trying to trick you.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.

⁵In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

⁶Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies.

⁷They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.

⁸You will throw up what little you’ve eaten, and your compliments will be wasted.

⁹Don’t waste your breath on fools, for they will despise the wisest advice.

¹⁰Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers; don’t take the land of defenseless orphans.

¹¹For their Redeemer is strong; he himself will bring their charges against you.

¹²Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t fail to discipline your children. The rod of punishment won’t kill them.

¹⁴Physical discipline may well save them from death.

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice!

¹⁶Everything in me will celebrate when you speak what is right.

¹⁷Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD.

¹⁸You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.

¹⁹My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons,

²¹for they are on their way to poverty, and too much sleep clothes them in rags.

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

²³Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.

²⁴The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise.

²⁵So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.

²⁶O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.

²⁷A prostitute is a dangerous trap; a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well.

²⁸She hides and waits like a robber, eager to make more men unfaithful.

²⁹Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks.

³¹Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.

³²For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings like a viper.

³³You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things.

³⁴You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast.

³⁵And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can look for another drink?”

¹And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel. The Philistines Capture the Ark At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek.

²The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men.

³After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.”

⁴So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

⁵When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!

⁶“What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because the Ark of the LORD had arrived,

⁷they panicked. “The gods have come into their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before!

⁸Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness.

⁹Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!”

¹⁰So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.

¹¹The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

¹²A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and arrived at Shiloh later that same day. He had torn his clothes and put dust on his head to show his grief.

¹³Eli was waiting beside the road to hear the news of the battle, for his heart trembled for the safety of the Ark of God. When the messenger arrived and told what had happened, an outcry resounded throughout the town.

¹⁴“What is all the noise about?” Eli asked. The messenger rushed over to Eli,

¹⁵who was ninety-eight years old and blind.

¹⁶He said to Eli, “I have just come from the battlefield — I was there this very day.” “What happened, my son?” Eli demanded.

¹⁷“Israel has been defeated by the Philistines,” the messenger replied. “The people have been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of God has been captured.”

¹⁸When the messenger mentioned what had happened to the Ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight. He had been Israel’s judge for forty years.

¹⁹Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near her time of delivery. When she heard that the Ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth.

²⁰She died in childbirth, but before she passed away the midwives tried to encourage her. “Don’t be afraid,” they said. “You have a baby boy!” But she did not answer or pay attention to them.

²¹She named the child Ichabod (which means “Where is the glory?”), for she said, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead.

²²Then she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.”

¹Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer.

²Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

³For this is what the LORD says: “When I sold you into exile, I received no payment. Now I can redeem you without having to pay for you.”

⁴This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria.

⁵What is this?” asks the LORD. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long.

⁶But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

⁸The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the LORD returning to Jerusalem.

⁹Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has demonstrated his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.

¹¹Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the LORD.

¹²You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the LORD will go ahead of you; yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

¹³See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted.

¹⁴But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.

¹⁵And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.

¹“Brothers and esteemed fathers,” Paul said, “listen to me as I offer my defense.”

²When they heard him speaking in their own language, the silence was even greater.

³Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.

⁴And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.

⁵The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.

⁶“As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.

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

⁸“‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’

⁹The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.

¹⁰“I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’

¹¹“I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.

¹²A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.

¹³He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!

¹⁴“Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.

¹⁵For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’

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

¹⁸I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

²⁰And I was in complete agreement when your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.’

²¹“But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

²²The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

²³They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air.

²⁴The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious.

²⁵When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

²⁶When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷So the commander went over and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I certainly am,” Paul replied.

²⁸“I am, too,” the commander muttered, “and it cost me plenty!” Paul answered, “But I am a citizen by birth!”

²⁹The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.

³⁰The next day the commander ordered the leading priests into session with the Jewish high council. He wanted to find out what the trouble was all about, so he released Paul to have him stand before them.