Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?

³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.

⁷So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ”

¹⁰On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

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

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

¹³Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

¹⁴Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

¹⁶Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

¹⁸Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”

²⁰Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?

²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

²²Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

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

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

²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

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

²⁷“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

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

²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

³⁰Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

³¹At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’

³³In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

¹In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron.

³They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD!

⁴Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?

⁵Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

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

⁷The LORD said to Moses,

⁸“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

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

¹⁰He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

¹³These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.

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

¹⁵Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors,

¹⁶but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

¹⁷Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

¹⁹The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

²⁰Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.

²¹Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

²²The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

²³At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor.

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

²⁷Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community.

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

²⁹and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

⁴For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,

⁵so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;

⁷if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;

⁸if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁰Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

¹³Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

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

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

¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

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

¹⁹Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

²⁰On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome 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 there was no longer any sea.

²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

⁴‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

⁶He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

⁷Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

⁸But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

¹⁰And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

¹¹It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

¹²It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

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

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

¹⁵The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.

¹⁶The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.

¹⁷The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.

¹⁸The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.

¹⁹The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,

²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

²¹The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

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

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

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

²⁵On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.

²⁶The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.

²⁷Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

¹“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.

²They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

³Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?

⁴Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

⁵A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

⁶So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.

⁷“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

⁸Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,

⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

¹¹As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

¹²so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

¹³“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

¹⁴If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

¹⁵You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.

¹⁶Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.

¹⁷My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.

¹⁸“But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,

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

²⁰You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away.

²¹If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.

²²They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”

¹Of David. A psalm. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

²for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

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 does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

⁵They will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior.

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

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

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

⁹Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

¹⁰Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory.

¹The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

²Whoever fears the LORD walks uprightly, but those who despise him are devious in their ways.

³A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.

⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.

⁶The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

⁷Stay away from a fool, for you will not find knowledge on their lips.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.

⁹Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.

¹⁰Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.

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

¹²There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief.

¹⁴The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good rewarded for theirs.

¹⁵The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.

¹⁶The wise fear the LORD and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure.

¹⁷A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.

¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹Evildoers will bow down in the presence of the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.

²¹It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.

²²Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.

²³All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

²⁴The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.

²⁶Whoever fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.

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

²⁸A large population is a king’s glory, but without subjects a prince is ruined.

²⁹Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

³⁰A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

³¹Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

³²When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous seek refuge in God.

³³Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.

³⁵A king delights in a wise servant, but a shameful servant arouses his fury.

¹The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?”

²So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David.

³Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there,

⁴he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.

⁵Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

⁶David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.

⁷So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?

¹⁰As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

¹¹But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

¹²So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the LORD had put them into a deep sleep.

¹³Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them.

¹⁴He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?” Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?”

¹⁵David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king.

¹⁶What you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, you and your men must die, because you did not guard your master, the LORD’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”

¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?” David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.”

¹⁸And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?

¹⁹Now let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the LORD has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the LORD! They have driven me today from my share in the LORD’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

²⁰Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”

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

²³The LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.

²⁴As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and deliver me from all trouble.”

²⁵Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

¹“ ‘At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.

²They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground.

³Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.’

⁴“Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “ ‘When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return?

⁵Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

⁶I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.

⁷Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

⁸“ ‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?

⁹The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?

¹⁰Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

¹¹They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace.

¹²Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.

¹³“ ‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.’ ”

¹⁴Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

¹⁵We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.

¹⁶The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.

¹⁷“See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

¹⁹Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”

²¹Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

¹Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.

²The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

³Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.

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

⁶Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.

⁷When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.

⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave 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, and the next day we went on to Neapolis.

¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.

¹⁴One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

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

²⁰They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar

²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.

²³After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

²⁴When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

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

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

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

³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

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

³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

³⁴The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

³⁵When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.

³⁹They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.

⁴⁰After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.