Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²And he responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things?

³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.

⁴Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed — do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”

⁶And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’

⁸“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

⁹Perhaps it will produce fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰As he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,

¹¹a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.”

¹³Then he laid his hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God.

¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water?

¹⁶Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years — shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷When he had said these things, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing.

¹⁸He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like, and what can I compare it to?

¹⁹It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

²⁰Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to?

²¹It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.” 

²²He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem.

²³“Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,

²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able

²⁵once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us! ’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’

²⁶Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷But he will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from me, all you evildoers!’

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out.

²⁹They will come from east and west, from north and south, to share the banquet in the kingdom of God.

³⁰Note this: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

³¹At that time some Pharisees came and told him, “Go, get out of here. Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’

³³Yet it is necessary that I travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

³⁵See, your house is abandoned to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,’ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!”

¹The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.

²There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron.

³The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD.

⁴Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

⁵Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

⁷The LORD spoke to Moses,

⁸“Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”

⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence just as he had commanded him.

¹⁰Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

¹³These are the Waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and he demonstrated his holiness to them.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says, ‘You know all the hardships that have overtaken us.

¹⁵Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many years, but the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.

¹⁶When we cried out to the LORD, he heard our plea, and sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory.

¹⁷Please let us travel through your land. We won’t travel through any field or vineyard, or drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway; we won’t turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.’”

¹⁸But Edom answered him, “You will not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”

¹⁹“We will go on the main road,” the Israelites replied to them, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay its price. There will be no problem; only let us travel through on foot.”

²⁰Yet Edom insisted, “You may not travel through.” And they came out to confront them with a large force of heavily-armed people.

²¹Edom refused to allow Israel to travel through their territory, and Israel turned away from them.

²²After they set out from Kadesh, the entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor.

²³The LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom,

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against my command at the Waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor.

²⁶Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and die there.”

²⁷So Moses did as the LORD commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community.

²⁸After Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

²Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

³For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

⁴Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function,

⁵in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

⁶According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith;

⁷if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching;

⁸if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁰Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor.

¹¹Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.

¹²Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.

¹³Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.

¹⁸If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

¹⁹Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.

²⁰But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.

²¹Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

²I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

⁵Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

⁶Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.

⁷The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

⁸But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars  — their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

⁹Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

¹⁰He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

¹¹arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

¹²The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates.

¹³There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

¹⁴The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

¹⁵The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

¹⁶The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

¹⁷Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used.

¹⁸The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass.

¹⁹The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

²⁰the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

²¹The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

²²I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

²³The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

²⁵Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.

²⁶They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

²⁷Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

¹Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.

²He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

³Do you really take notice of one like this? Will you bring me into judgment against you?

⁴Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one!

⁵Since a person’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on you, and since you have set limits he cannot pass,

⁶look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

⁷There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die.

⁸If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump starts to die in the soil,

⁹the scent of water makes it thrive and produce twigs like a sapling.

¹⁰But a person dies and fades away; he breathes his last — where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from a lake and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹²so people lie down never to rise again. They will not wake up until the heavens are no more; they will not stir from their sleep.

¹³If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes. If only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me.

¹⁴When a person dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands.

¹⁶For then you would count my steps but would not take note of my sin.

¹⁷My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸But as a mountain collapses and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil from the land, so you destroy a man’s hope.

²⁰You completely overpower him, and he passes on; you change his appearance and send him away.

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.

¹A psalm of David. [1] The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD;

²for he laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.

³Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.

⁵He will receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.

⁸Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.

¹⁰Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD of Armies, he is the King of glory. Selah

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²Whoever lives with integrity fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises him.

³The proud speech of a fool brings a rod of discipline, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of an ox.

⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness utters lies.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to the perceptive.

⁷Stay away from a foolish person; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

⁸The sensible person’s wisdom is to consider his way, but the stupidity of fools deceives them.

⁹Fools mock at making reparation, but there is goodwill among the upright.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, and no outsider shares in its joy.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

¹³Even in laughter a heart may be sad, and joy may end in grief.

¹⁴The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves, and a good one, what his deeds deserve.

¹⁵The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps.

¹⁶A wise person is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered and is careless.

¹⁷A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and one who schemes is hated.

¹⁸The inexperienced inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow before those who are good, and the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰A poor person is hated even by his neighbor, but there are many who love the rich.

²¹The one who despises his neighbor sins, but whoever shows kindness to the poor will be happy.

²²Don’t those who plan evil go astray? But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.

²³There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the foolishness of fools produces foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness rescues lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence and his children have a refuge.

²⁷The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

²⁸A large population is a king’s splendor, but a shortage of people is a ruler’s devastation.

²⁹A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.

³⁰A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

³¹The one who oppresses the poor person insults his Maker, but one who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked one is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous one has a refuge in his death.

³³Wisdom resides in the heart of the discerning; she is known even among fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵A king favors a prudent servant, but his anger falls on a disgraceful one.

¹Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, “David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon.”

²So Saul, accompanied by three thousand of the fit young men of Israel, went immediately to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

³Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon. David was living in the wilderness and discovered Saul had come there after him.

⁴So David sent out spies and knew for certain that Saul had come.

⁵Immediately, David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were lying down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp with the troops camped around him.

⁶Then David asked Ahimelech the Hethite and Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, “Who will go with me into the camp to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” answered Abishai.

⁷That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him.

⁸Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be innocent?”

¹⁰David added, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will certainly strike him down: either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

¹¹However, because of the LORD, I will never lift my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and the water jug by his head, and let’s go.”

¹²So David took the spear and the water jug by Saul’s head, and they went their way. No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up; they all remained asleep because a deep sleep from the LORD came over them.

¹³David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance; there was a considerable space between them.

¹⁴Then David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner: “Aren’t you going to answer, Abner?” “Who are you who calls to the king?” Abner asked.

¹⁵David called to Abner, “You’re a man, aren’t you? Who in Israel is your equal? So why didn’t you protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him?

¹⁶What you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die since you didn’t protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around; where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”

¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.

¹⁸Then he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What crime have I committed?

¹⁹Now, may my lord the king please hear the words of his servant: If it is the LORD who has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD, for today they have banished me from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD saying, ‘Go and worship other gods.’

²⁰So don’t let my blood fall to the ground far from the LORD’s presence, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, like one who pursues a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹Saul responded, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David, I will never harm you again because today you considered my life precious. I have been a fool! I’ve committed a grave error.”

²²David answered, “Here is the king’s spear; have one of the young men come over and get it.

²³The LORD will repay every man for his righteousness and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against the LORD’s anointed, even though the LORD handed you over to me today.

²⁴Just as I considered your life valuable today, so may the LORD consider my life valuable and rescue me from all trouble.”

²⁵Saul said to him, “You are blessed, my son David. You will certainly do great things and will also prevail.” Then David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

¹“At that time” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.

²They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky, which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.

³Death will be chosen over life by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁴“You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: Do people fall and not get up again? If they turn away, do they not return?

⁵Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They take hold of deceit; they refuse to return.

⁶I have paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing into battle.

⁷Even storks in the sky know their seasons. Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes are aware of their migration, but my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

⁸“How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the law of the LORD is with us’? In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.

⁹The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they really have?

¹⁰Therefore, I will give their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹¹They have treated the brokenness of my dear people superficially, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.

¹³I will gather them and bring them to an end. This is the LORD’s declaration. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.

¹⁴Why are we just sitting here? Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has destroyed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹⁶From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents.

¹⁷Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸My joy has flown away; grief has settled on me. My heart is sick.

¹⁹Listen — the cry of my dear people from a faraway land, “Is the LORD no longer in Zion, her King not within her?” Why have they angered me with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?

²⁰Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved.

²¹I am broken by the brokenness of my dear people. I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?

¹Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

³Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.