Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He entered Jericho and was passing through it.

²A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.

³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.

⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.

⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”

⁶So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.

⁷All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”

⁸Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.

¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

¹¹As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

¹²So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return.

¹³He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’

¹⁴But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’

¹⁵When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading.

¹⁶The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’

¹⁷He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’

¹⁸Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’

¹⁹He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’

²⁰Then the other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth,

²¹for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

²²He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

²³Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’

²⁴He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’

²⁵(And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’)

²⁶‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

²⁷But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’”

²⁸After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,

³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³²So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.

³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They said, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

³⁶As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.

³⁷As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,

³⁸saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”

⁴⁰He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

⁴¹As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it,

⁴²saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴³Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side.

⁴⁴They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

⁴⁵Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there;

⁴⁶and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”

⁴⁷Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him;

⁴⁸but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

¹After the plague the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest,

²“Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from twenty years old and upward, by their ancestral houses, everyone in Israel able to go to war.”

³Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

⁴“Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and upward,” as the LORD commanded Moses. The Israelites, who came out of the land of Egypt, were:

⁵Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. The descendants of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;

⁶of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.

⁷These are the clans of the Reubenites; the number of those enrolled was forty-three thousand seven hundred thirty.

⁸And the descendants of Pallu: Eliab.

⁹The descendants of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against the LORD,

¹⁰and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured two hundred fifty men; and they became a warning.

¹¹Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah did not die.

¹²The descendants of Simeon by their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites;

¹³of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites.

¹⁴These are the clans of the Simeonites, twenty-two thousand two hundred.

¹⁵The children of Gad by their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites;

¹⁶of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; of Eri, the clan of the Erites;

¹⁷of Arod, the clan of the Arodites; of Areli, the clan of the Arelites.

¹⁸These are the clans of the Gadites: the number of those enrolled was forty thousand five hundred.

¹⁹The sons of Judah: Er and Onan; Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

²⁰The descendants of Judah by their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.

²¹The descendants of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.

²²These are the clans of Judah: the number of those enrolled was seventy-six thousand five hundred.

²³The descendants of Issachar by their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites;

²⁴of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites.

²⁵These are the clans of Issachar: sixty-four thousand three hundred enrolled.

²⁶The descendants of Zebulun by their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.

²⁷These are the clans of the Zebulunites; the number of those enrolled was sixty thousand five hundred.

²⁸The sons of Joseph by their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.

²⁹The descendants of Manasseh: of Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir was the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.

³⁰These are the descendants of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites;

³¹and of Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites;

³²and of Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.

³³Now Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

³⁴These are the clans of Manasseh; the number of those enrolled was fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

³⁵These are the descendants of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the clan of the Becherites; of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.

³⁶And these are the descendants of Shuthelah: of Eran, the clan of the Eranites.

³⁷These are the clans of the Ephraimites: the number of those enrolled was thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the descendants of Joseph by their clans.

³⁸The descendants of Benjamin by their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites;

³⁹of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites.

⁴⁰And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites; of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites.

⁴¹These are the descendants of Benjamin by their clans; the number of those enrolled was forty-five thousand six hundred.

⁴²These are the descendants of Dan by their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These are the clans of Dan by their clans.

⁴³All the clans of the Shuhamites: sixty-four thousand four hundred enrolled.

⁴⁴The descendants of Asher by their families: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the clan of the Beriites.

⁴⁵Of the descendants of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites.

⁴⁶And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.

⁴⁷These are the clans of the Asherites: the number of those enrolled was fifty-three thousand four hundred.

⁴⁸The descendants of Naphtali by their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the clan of the Gunites;

⁴⁹of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites.

⁵⁰These are the Naphtalites by their clans: the number of those enrolled was forty-five thousand four hundred.

⁵¹This was the number of the Israelites enrolled: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred thirty.

⁵²The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

⁵³To these the land shall be apportioned for inheritance according to the number of names.

⁵⁴To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance according to its enrollment.

⁵⁵But the land shall be apportioned by lot; according to the names of their ancestral tribes they shall inherit.

⁵⁶Their inheritance shall be apportioned according to lot between the larger and the smaller.

⁵⁷This is the enrollment of the Levites by their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; of Merari, the clan of the Merarites.

⁵⁸These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. Now Kohath was the father of Amram.

⁵⁹The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

⁶⁰To Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

⁶¹But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unholy fire before the LORD.

⁶²The number of those enrolled was twenty-three thousand, every male one month old and upward; for they were not enrolled among the Israelites because there was no allotment given to them among the Israelites.

⁶³These were those enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who enrolled the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

⁶⁴Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.

⁶⁵For the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

¹When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.

²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

³And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

⁴My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

⁶Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.

⁷But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

⁸None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

⁹But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” —

¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

¹¹For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

¹³And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

¹⁴Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

¹⁵Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.

¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me.

³I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.

⁴Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth,

⁵that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?

⁶Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds,

⁷they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’

⁸They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.

¹⁰Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth.

¹¹Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them.

¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues,

¹³though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths,

¹⁴yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.

¹⁵They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them.

¹⁷They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build.

²⁰“They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.

²¹There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure.

²²In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.

²³To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food.

²⁴They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through.

²⁵It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them.

²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed.

²⁷The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them.

²⁸The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God.”

¹I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.

²O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

³O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

⁴Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.

⁵For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”

⁷By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

⁸To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:

⁹“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?

¹⁰Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!”

¹¹You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

¹²so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

²The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion; anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.

³It is honorable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴The lazy person does not plow in season; harvest comes, and there is nothing to be found.

⁵The purposes in the human mind are like deep water, but the intelligent will draw them out.

⁶Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?

⁷The righteous walk in integrity — happy are the children who follow them!

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?

¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹¹Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, then goes away and boasts.

¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by taking advice; wage war by following wise guidance.

¹⁹A gossip reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler.

²⁰If you curse father or mother, your lamp will go out in utter darkness.

²¹An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will help you.

²³Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.

²⁴All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

²⁵It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,” and begin to reflect only after making a vow.

²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them.

²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD, searching every inmost part.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by righteousness.

²⁹The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.

³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts.

¹After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.

²On the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and did obeisance.

³David said to him, “Where have you come from?” He said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

⁴David said to him, “How did things go? Tell me!” He answered, “The army fled from the battle, but also many of the army fell and died; and Saul and his son Jonathan also died.”

⁵Then David asked the young man who was reporting to him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan died?”

⁶The young man reporting to him said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa; and there was Saul leaning on his spear, while the chariots and the horsemen drew close to him.

⁷When he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. I answered, ‘Here sir.’

⁸And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

⁹He said to me, ‘Come, stand over me and kill me; for convulsions have seized me, and yet my life still lingers.’

¹⁰So I stood over him, and killed him, for I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

¹¹Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them; and all the men who were with him did the same.

¹²They mourned and wept, and fasted until evening for Saul and for his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

¹³David said to the young man who had reported to him, “Where do you come from?” He answered, “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.”

¹⁴David said to him, “Were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”

¹⁵Then David called one of the young men and said, “Come here and strike him down.” So he struck him down and he died.

¹⁶David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

¹⁷David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan.

¹⁸(He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar.) He said:

¹⁹Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen!

²⁰Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.

²¹You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more.

²²From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return empty.

²³Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

²⁴O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with crimson, in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

²⁵How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places.

²⁶I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

²⁷How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

²Judah mourns and her gates languish; they lie in gloom on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

³Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed and dismayed and cover their heads,

⁴because the ground is cracked. Because there has been no rain on the land the farmers are dismayed; they cover their heads.

⁵Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

⁶The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

⁷Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.

⁸O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?

⁹Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!

¹⁰Thus says the LORD concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

¹¹The LORD said to me: Do not pray for the welfare of this people.

¹²Although they fast, I do not hear their cry, and although they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I do not accept them; but by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I consume them.

¹³Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD! Here are the prophets saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’”

¹⁴And the LORD said to me: The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not come on this land”: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.

¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword. There shall be no one to bury them — themselves, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

¹⁷You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter — my people — is struck down with a crushing blow, with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go out into the field, look — those killed by the sword! And if I enter the city, look — those sick with famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land, and have no knowledge.

¹⁹Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.

²¹Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.

²²Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you.”

²When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet. Then he said:

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison,

⁵as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

⁶“While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’

¹¹Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus.

¹²“A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there,

¹³came to me; and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him.

¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice;

¹⁵for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

²⁰And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.’

²¹Then he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

²²Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”

²³And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him.

²⁵But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The tribune came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

³⁰Since he wanted to find out what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.