Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up

²and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”

³He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me,

⁴was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”

⁵And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’

⁶But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

¹⁰When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹² And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.

¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’

¹⁵And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

¹⁷But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

¹⁹The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

²⁰So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

²¹So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.

²²Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

²³But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,

²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.”

²⁵He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

²⁶And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.

²⁷There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

²⁸and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children.

³⁰And the second

³¹and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.

³²Afterward the woman also died.

³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

³⁴And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,

³⁵but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,

³⁶for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

³⁷But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

³⁸Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”

³⁹Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”

⁴⁰For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

⁴¹But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David's son?

⁴²For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,

⁴³until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

⁴⁴David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

⁴⁵And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,

⁴⁷ who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

¹Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

²And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying,

³“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons.

⁴Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.”

⁵Moses brought their case before the LORD.

⁶And the LORD said to Moses,

⁷“The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

⁸And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

⁹And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.

¹⁰And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers.

¹¹And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the LORD commanded Moses.’”

¹²The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.

¹³When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was,

¹⁴because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵Moses spoke to the LORD, saying,

¹⁶“Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

¹⁸So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.

¹⁹Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.

²⁰You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.

²¹And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”

²²And Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation,

²³and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the LORD directed through Moses.

¹But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

³for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

⁴For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

⁷So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

⁸He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

⁹For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

¹¹For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw —

¹³each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

¹⁴If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

¹⁵If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

²⁰and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

²¹So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours,

²³and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort.

³Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

⁸Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.

¹¹They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

¹³They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

¹⁴They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?

¹⁸That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?

¹⁹You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

²⁰Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?

²²Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?

²³One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,

²⁴his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.

²⁵Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.

²⁷“Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony

³⁰that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done?

³²When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.

³⁴How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

¹In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!

²Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!

³For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;

⁴you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

⁵Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

⁶I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.

⁷I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,

⁸and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.

¹²I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.

¹³For I hear the whispering of many — terror on every side! — as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

¹⁵My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

¹⁶Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

¹⁷O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

²⁰In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.

²²I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.

²³Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

¹The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

⁸The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.

⁹It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

¹¹When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked; he throws the wicked down to ruin.

¹³Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

¹⁴A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.

¹⁵When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

¹⁶One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the traitor for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.

²⁰Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

²¹Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

²³Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

²⁴“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.

²⁸A false witness will perish, but the word of a man who hears will endure.

²⁹A wicked man puts on a bold face, but the upright gives thought to his ways.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.

³¹The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

¹After this David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”

²So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

³And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron.

⁴And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”

⁵David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.

⁶Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.

⁷Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,

⁹and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.

¹⁰Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

¹¹And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

¹²Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.

¹⁴And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.”

¹⁵Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

¹⁶And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon.

¹⁷And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle.

¹⁹And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.

²⁰Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.”

²¹Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

²²And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”

²³But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill.

²⁶Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?”

²⁷And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.”

²⁸So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.

²⁹And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim.

³⁰Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel.

³¹But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men.

³²And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!

²And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

³I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

⁴And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

⁶You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you — I am weary of relenting.

⁷I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.

⁸I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly.

⁹She who bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the LORD.”

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

¹¹The LORD said, “Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress?

¹²Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.

¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

¹⁵O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

¹⁷I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD.

²¹I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

¹And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”

²And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”

⁴Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God's high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

⁷And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁹Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”

¹⁰And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

¹²When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.

¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

¹⁶Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”

¹⁸So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.”

¹⁹The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.

²¹But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.”

²²So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

²³Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.

²⁴Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

²⁵And he wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

²⁸And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.

²⁹I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

³⁰And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.

³³When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.

³⁴On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.