Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.

²There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.

³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

⁴But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

⁵Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”

⁶And they had nothing to say.

⁷When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:

⁸“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.

⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.

¹¹For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹²Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.

¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

¹⁴and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁶Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.

¹⁷At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

²²“ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

²⁴I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:

²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

²⁷And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

²⁹For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,

³⁰saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

³³In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.

²Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.”

³The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.

⁴They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;

⁵they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

⁶Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.

⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

¹⁰The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth.

¹¹Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.

¹²From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley.

¹³They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: “…Zahab in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon

¹⁵and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,

¹⁸about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

²¹Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:

²²“Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.

²⁴Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.

²⁶Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon’s city be restored.

²⁸“Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰“But we have overthrown them; Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.”

³¹So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

³²After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.

³⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

¹Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

²Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

³For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.

⁴For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

⁶This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

⁷Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

¹²The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹³Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

¹⁴Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

²down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

³No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.

⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

⁵There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

⁶The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

⁷“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.

⁹But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”

¹⁰Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.

¹¹Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

¹²“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

¹⁴“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

¹⁵Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.

¹⁹And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

²⁰He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind?

³Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?

⁴But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.

⁵Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.

⁷“Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?

⁹What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?

¹⁰The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.

¹¹Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?

¹²Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

¹³so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?

¹⁵If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

¹⁶how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!

¹⁷“Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,

¹⁸what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors

¹⁹(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):

²⁰All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.

²¹Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.

²²He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword.

²³He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,

²⁵because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

²⁶defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷“Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,

²⁸he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.

²⁹He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

³⁰He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

³¹Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.

³²Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish.

³³He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

³⁴For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.

³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

¹Of David. In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.

²I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

⁴Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

⁵Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.

⁸Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

¹⁰All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.

¹¹For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹²Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

¹³They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land.

¹⁴The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

¹⁷Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.

¹⁸Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.

¹⁹See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

²¹May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.

²²Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

⁴The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.

⁶The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings ruin.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but the hearts of fools are not upright.

⁸The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

⁹The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue righteousness.

¹⁰Stern discipline awaits anyone who leaves the path; the one who hates correction will die.

¹¹Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD— how much more do human hearts!

¹²Mockers resent correction, so they avoid the wise.

¹³A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

¹⁴The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.

¹⁷Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.

¹⁸A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.

¹⁹The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly brings joy to one who has no sense, but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

²³A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the prudent to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

²⁵The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place.

²⁶The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but gracious words are pure in his sight.

²⁷The greedy bring ruin to their households, but the one who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.

²⁹The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.

³¹Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise.

³²Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

³³Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.

¹But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

²So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath.

³David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.

⁴When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

⁶So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.

⁷David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

⁹Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

¹⁰When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.”

¹¹He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’ ” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.

¹²Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”

¹Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

²Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

³“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

⁴“Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.

⁵Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.

⁶You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

⁷Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.

⁹Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

¹²Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.

¹⁴Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

¹⁵Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.

¹⁶I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”

¹⁷This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.

¹⁸Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.

¹⁹The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.’ ”

²⁰Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

²¹Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.

²²Say, “This is what the LORD declares: “ ‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.’ ”

²³This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,

²⁴but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

²⁵“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—

²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

¹When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

²As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.

⁴Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

⁵But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.

⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,

⁷and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”

⁸When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.

⁹Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

¹⁰As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

¹²As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

¹³But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.

¹⁴The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.

¹⁵Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

²⁰You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

²¹(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²²Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.

²³For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

²⁶From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

²⁷God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

²⁸‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

²⁹“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

³⁰In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

³¹For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

³²When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”

³³At that, Paul left the Council.

³⁴Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.