Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

²Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.

³And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?”

⁴But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away.

⁵Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?”

⁶And they could not reply to this.

⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.

⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;

⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

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

¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.

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

¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many.

¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’

¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’

¹⁹Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’

²⁰Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’

²¹So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

²²And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

²³Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them,

²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

³⁴“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

¹When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

²Then Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.”

³The LORD listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so the place was called Hormah.

⁴From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.

⁵The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”

⁶Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.

⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

⁹So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

¹⁰The Israelites set out, and camped in Oboth.

¹¹They set out from Oboth, and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab toward the sunrise.

¹²From there they set out, and camped in the Wadi Zered.

¹³From there they set out, and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis. The Arnon

¹⁵and the slopes of the wadis that extend to the seat of Ar, and lie along the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which 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 to it! —

¹⁸the well that the leaders sank, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, with the staff.” From the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that overlooks the wasteland.

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, saying,

²²“Let me pass through your land; we will not turn aside into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of any well; we will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel to the wilderness; he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel put him to the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for the boundary of the Ammonites was strong.

²⁵Israel took all these towns, and Israel settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.

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

²⁷Therefore the ballad singers say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established.

²⁸For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, and swallowed up the heights of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.

³⁰So their posterity perished from Heshbon to Dibon, and we laid waste until fire spread to Medeba.”

³¹Thus Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

³²Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they captured its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan; and King Og of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

³⁴But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him; for I have given him into your hand, with all his people, and all his land. You shall do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they killed him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.

¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

²Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval;

⁴for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.

⁵Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.

⁶For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing.

⁷Pay to all what is due them — taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

¹³let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

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

²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;

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

⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

⁶And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

⁷“See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

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

⁹but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

¹⁰And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

¹¹Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

¹²“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

¹⁵Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book;

¹⁹if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and fill themselves with the east wind?

³Should they argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which they can do no good?

⁴But you are doing away with the fear of God, and hindering meditation before God.

⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

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

⁷“Are you the firstborn of the human race? Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

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

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?

¹²Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,

¹³so that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

¹⁴What are mortals, that they can be clean? Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?

¹⁵God puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight;

¹⁶how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, one who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷“I will show you; listen to me; what I have seen I will declare —

¹⁸what sages have told, and their ancestors have not hidden,

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.

²⁰The wicked writhe in pain all their days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

²¹Terrifying sounds are in their ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.

²²They despair of returning from darkness, and they are destined for the sword.

²³They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;

²⁴distress and anguish terrify them; they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.

²⁵Because they stretched out their hands against God, and bid defiance to the Almighty,

²⁶running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield;

²⁷because they have covered their faces with their fat, and gathered fat upon their loins,

²⁸they will live in desolate cities, in houses that no one should inhabit, houses destined to become heaps of ruins;

²⁹they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure, nor will they strike root in the earth;

³⁰they will not escape from darkness; the flame will dry up their shoots, and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.

³¹Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves; for emptiness will be their recompense.

³²It will be paid in full before their time, and their branch will not be green.

³³They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine, and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.

³⁴For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

³⁵They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares deceit.”

¹To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

²O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

³Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

⁴Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.

⁵Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

⁶Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!

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

⁹He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

¹⁰All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

¹¹For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

¹²Who are they that fear the LORD? He will teach them the way that they should choose.

¹³They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land.

¹⁴The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.

¹⁵My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

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

¹⁷Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.

¹⁸Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

¹⁹Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.

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

²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

²²Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles.

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

²The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

⁵A fool despises a parent’s instruction, but the one who heeds admonition is prudent.

⁶In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the minds of fools.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves the one who pursues righteousness.

¹⁰There is severe discipline for one who forsakes the way, but one who hates a rebuke will die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD, how much more human hearts!

¹²Scoffers do not like to be rebuked; they will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.

¹⁴The mind of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the poor are hard, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.

¹⁸Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife, but those who are slow to anger calm contention.

¹⁹The way of the lazy is overgrown with thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

²⁰A wise child makes a glad father, but the foolish despise their mothers.

²¹Folly is a joy to one who has no sense, but a person of understanding walks straight ahead.

²²Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.

²³To make an apt answer is a joy to anyone, and a word in season, how good it is!

²⁴For the wise the path of life leads upward, in order to avoid Sheol below.

²⁵The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but maintains the widow’s boundaries.

²⁶Evil plans are an abomination to the LORD, but gracious words are pure.

²⁷Those who are greedy for unjust gain make trouble for their households, but those who hate bribes will live.

²⁸The mind of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil.

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

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the body.

³¹The ear that heeds wholesome admonition will lodge among the wise.

³²Those who ignore instruction despise themselves, but those who heed admonition gain understanding.

³³The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility goes before honor.

¹David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

²So David set out and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath.

³David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his troops, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.

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

⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your sight, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

⁶So that day Achish gave him Ziklag; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

⁷The length of time that David lived in the country of the Philistines was one year and four months.

⁸Now David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for these were the landed settlements from Telam on the way to Shur and on to the land of Egypt.

⁹David struck the land, leaving neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing, and came back to Achish.

¹⁰When Achish asked, “Against whom have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah,” or “Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Kenites.”

¹¹David left neither man nor woman alive to be brought back to Gath, thinking, “They might tell about us, and say, ‘David has done so and so.’” Such was his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.

¹²Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself utterly abhorrent to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”

¹O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

²O that I had in the desert a traveler’s lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors.

³They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD.

⁴Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.

⁵They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.

⁶Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the LORD.

⁷Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: I will now refine and test them, for what else can I do with my sinful people?

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit through the mouth. They all speak friendly words to their neighbors, but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

¹⁰Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the animals have fled and are gone.

¹¹I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

¹²Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, so that they may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

¹³And the LORD says: Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accordance with it,

¹⁴but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

¹⁷Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilled women to come;

¹⁸let them quickly raise a dirge over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water.

¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: “How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.”

²⁰Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament.

²¹“Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.”

²²Speak! Thus says the LORD: “Human corpses shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, and no one shall gather them.”

²³Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth;

²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD.

²⁵The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin:

²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

¹After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures,

³explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.”

⁴Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

⁵But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house.

⁶When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also,

⁷and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”

⁸The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this,

⁹and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go.

¹⁰That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.

¹²Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing.

¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds.

¹⁴Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.

¹⁵Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.

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

¹⁷So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)

¹⁹So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

²⁰It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.”

²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

²²Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.

²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands,

²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.

²⁶From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,

²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

²⁸For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

²⁹Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.

³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

³²When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

³³At that point Paul left them.

³⁴But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.