Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, look! What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”

²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were questioning Him privately,

⁴“Tell us, when will these things come about, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”

⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

⁶Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and they will mislead many.

⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

⁸For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are only the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“But be on your guard; for they will hand you over to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.

¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

¹¹And when theyarrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time; for you are not the ones speaking, but it is the Holy Spirit.

¹²And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents andhave them put to death.

¹³And you will be hated by everyone because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

¹⁴“Now when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be— let the reader understand—then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁵Whoever is on thehousetop must not go down, nor go in to get anything out of his house.

¹⁶Andwhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁷But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

¹⁸Moreover, pray that it will not happen in winter.

¹⁹For those days will be such a time of tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will again.

²⁰And if the Lord had not shortened those days, nolife would have been saved; but for the sake of theelect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

²¹And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is theChrist’; or, ‘Look, there He is’; do not believe it;

²²for false christs and false prophets will arise, and will provide signs and wonders, in order to mislead, if possible, the elect.

²³But beware; I have told you everything in advance.

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT,

²⁵AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory.

²⁷And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together Hiselect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹So you too, when you see these things happening,recognize thatHe is near, right at thedoor.

³⁰Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³²But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“Watch out, stay alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is.

³⁴It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house andputting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert.

³⁵Therefore, stay alert—for you do not know when themaster of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

³⁶so that he does not come suddenly and find you asleep.

³⁷What I say to you I say to all: ‘Stay alert!’ ”

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²“Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households,

³from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, everyone who can enter the service of ministry to do work in the tent of meeting.

⁴This is the work of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵“When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the curtain, and cover the ark of the testimony with it;

⁶and they shall place a covering of fine leather on it, and spread over it a cloth of pure violet, and insert its carrying poles.

⁷Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of violet and put on it the dishes, the pans, the sacrificial bowls, and the jugs for the drink offering; and the continual bread shall be on it.

⁸And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles.

⁹Then they shall take a violet cloth and cover the lampstand for the light, along with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil containers, by which they attend to it;

¹⁰and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying bars.

¹¹Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles;

¹²and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying bars.

¹³Then they shall clean away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.

¹⁴They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks, shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of fine leather over it and insert its carrying poles.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. These are the things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“Now the responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual grain offering, and the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the tabernacle and everything that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be eliminated from among the Levites.

¹⁹Rather, do this for them so that they will live and not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load;

²⁰but they shall not come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

²¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²²“Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ households, by their families;

²³from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall count them: all who can enter to perform service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying:

²⁵they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of fine leather that is on top of it, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

²⁶and the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes and all the equipment for their service; and everything that is to be done by them, they shall perform.

²⁷All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, that is, all their loads and all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads.

²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ households;

³⁰from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who can enter the service to do the work of the tent of meeting.

³¹Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases,

³²and the pillars around the courtyard and their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by names of the men the items that each is to carry.

³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁵from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting.

³⁶Their numbered men by their families were 2,750.

³⁷These were the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

³⁸And the numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁹from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁰their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630.

⁴¹These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

⁴²And the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households,

⁴³from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁴their numbered men by their families were 3,200.

⁴⁵These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

⁴⁶All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households,

⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁸their numbered men were 8,580.

⁴⁹According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they were counted, everyone by his serving or carrying; so these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹Now even the first covenant had regulations for divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.

²For a tabernacle was equipped, the outer sanctuary, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the sacred bread; this is called the Holy Place.

³Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Most Holy Place,

⁴having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff which budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

⁵and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the atoning cover; but about these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship,

⁷but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

⁸The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,

⁹which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,

¹⁰since they relate only to food, drink, and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

¹¹But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation;

¹²and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

¹⁶For where there is a covenant, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.

¹⁷For a covenant is valid only when people are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.

¹⁸Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood.

¹⁹For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

²⁰saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.”

²¹And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.

²²And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these things, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a holy place made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

²⁵nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year by year with blood that is not his own.

²⁶Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

²⁷And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment,

²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

¹I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.

²And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”

³And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

⁴Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

⁵And one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

⁷And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

⁸When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

¹⁰You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

¹²saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”

¹³And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”

¹⁴And the four living creatures were saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

¹“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?”

²“My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of balsam, To pasture his flock in the gardens And gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, He who pastures his flock among the lilies.”

⁴“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem, As awesome as an army with banners.

⁵Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes That have come up from their watering place, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young.

⁷Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate Behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And young women without number;

⁹But my dove, my perfect one, is unique: She is her mother’s only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who gave birth to her. The young women saw her and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

¹⁰‘Who is this who looks down like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?’

¹¹I went down to the orchard of nut trees To see the plants of the valley, To see whether the vine had grown Or the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people.”

¹³“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, so that we may look at you!” “Why should you look at the Shulammite, As at the dance of the two armies?

¹LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

²From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have established strength Because of Your enemies, To do away with the enemy and the revengeful.

³When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have set in place;

⁴What is man that You think of him, And a son of man that You are concerned about him?

⁵Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

⁶You have him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put everything under his feet,

⁷All sheep and oxen, And also the animals of the field,

⁸The birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

⁹LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

¹A person often rebuked who becomes obstinate Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king gives stability to the land by justice, But a person who takes bribes ruins it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.

⁶By wrongdoing an evil person is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; The wicked does not understand such concern.

⁸Arrogant people inflame a city, But wise people turn away anger.

⁹When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person, The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

¹⁰People of bloodshed hate the blameless person, But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A fool always loses his temper, But a wise person holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

¹³The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, wrongdoing increases; But the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

¹⁹A slave will not be instructed by words alone; For though he understands, there will be no response.

²⁰Do you see a person who is hasty with his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹One who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be rebellious.

²²An angry person stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.

²³A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴One who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, And one who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has the LORD not anointed you as ruler over His inheritance?

²When you leave me today, then you will find two men close to Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has stopped talking about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What am I to do about my son?” ’

³Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine.

⁴And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.

⁵Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre in front of them, and they will be prophesying.

⁶Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be changed into a different man.

⁷And it shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, because God is with you.

⁸And you shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and inform you of what you should do.”

⁹Then it happened, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, that God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.

¹⁰When they came there to the hill, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he prophesied among them.

¹¹And it came about, when all who previously knew him saw that he was indeed prophesying with the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹²And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹³When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴Now Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

¹⁷Now Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah;

¹⁸and he said to the sons of Israel, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’

¹⁹But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your catastrophes and your distresses; yet you have said, ‘No, but put a king over us!’ Now then, present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your groups of thousands.”

²⁰So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel forward; and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot.

²¹Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin forward by its families, and the Matrite family was selected by lot. And Saul the son of Kish was selected by lot; but when they looked for him, he could not be found.

²²Therefore they inquired further of the LORD: “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD said, “Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage.”

²³So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.

²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”

²⁵Then Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book, and placed it before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.

²⁶Saul also went to his house in Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.

²⁷But certain useless men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and did not bring him a gift. But he kept silent about it.

¹“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their wrongdoing, And to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.

³‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high!

⁵Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?

⁶Is this not the fast that I choose: To release the bonds of wickedness, To undo the ropes of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke?

⁷Is it not to break your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will spring up quickly; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰And if you offer yourself to the hungry And satisfy the need of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday.

¹¹And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

¹²Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

¹³“If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot From doing as you wish on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word,

¹⁴Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

¹When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta.

²The natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for they kindled a fire and took us all in because of the rain that had started and because of the cold.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶Now they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighboring parts of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us warmly for three days.

⁸And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with a recurring fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after he prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him.

⁹After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and being cured.

¹⁰They also showed us many honors, and when we were about to set sail, they supplied us with everything we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

¹²After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.

¹³From there we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind came up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some brothers and sisters, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and that is how we came to Rome.

¹⁵And from there the brothers and sisters, when they heard about us, came as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

¹⁷After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.

¹⁸And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there were no grounds for putting me to death.

¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation.

²⁰For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, since I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.”

²¹They said to him, “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor has any of the brothers come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.

²²But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for regarding this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.”

²³When they had set a day for Paul, people came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

²⁴Some were being persuaded by the things said by Paul, but others would not believe.

²⁵And when they disagreed with one another, they began leaving after Paul said one parting statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers,

²⁶saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, “YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, AND WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, AND WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

²⁷FOR THE HEARTS OF THIS PEOPLE HAVE BECOME INSENSITIVE, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY HARDLY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.” ’

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Now Paul stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and welcomed all who came to him,

³¹preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.