Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders

²and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?”

³He answered them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me:

⁴Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

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

⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

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

⁸Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

⁹He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time.

¹⁰When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed.

¹²And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw 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 discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’

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

¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!”

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

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

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

²⁰So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.

²¹So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth.

²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

²³But he perceived their craftiness and said to them,

²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.”

²⁵He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.

²⁷Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him

²⁸and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless;

³⁰then the second

³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.

³²Finally the woman also died.

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

³⁴Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage;

³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

³⁸Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

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

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

⁴¹Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah 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 can he be his son?”

⁴⁵In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁷They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

¹Then the daughters of Zelophehad came forward. Zelophehad was son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph, a member of the Manassite clans. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

²They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and they said,

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 spoke to Moses, saying:

⁷The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them.

⁸You shall also say to the Israelites, “If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter.

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

¹⁰If 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. It shall be for the Israelites a statute and ordinance, as the LORD commanded Moses.”

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

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 with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribath-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 someone over the congregation

¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

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

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

²⁰You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey.

²¹But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision 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 Israelites with him, the whole congregation.”

²²So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation;

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

¹And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,

³for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

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

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

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

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

⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.

⁹For we are God’s servants, working together; 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 on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

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

¹³the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

¹⁴If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.

¹⁵If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder 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 that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

¹⁸Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness 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 about human leaders. 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 belong to you,

²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

¹Then Job answered:

²“Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.

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

⁴As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals? Why should I not be impatient?

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

⁶When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

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

⁸Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring 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 never miscarries.

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

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, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.

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

¹⁶Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger?

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

¹⁹You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let it be paid back to them, so 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 household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?

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

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

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

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

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

²⁷“Oh, 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 wicked are spared in the day of calamity, and are rescued in the day of wrath?

³¹Who declares their way to their face, and who repays them for what they have done?

³²When they are carried to the grave, a watch is kept over their tomb.

³³The clods of the valley are sweet to them; everyone will follow after, and those who went before are innumerable.

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

¹In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever 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.

³You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,

⁴take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

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

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

⁷I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities,

⁸and 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 wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.

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

¹¹I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.

¹²I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.

¹³For I hear the whispering of many — terror all around! — 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; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

¹⁶Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.

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

¹⁸Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt.

¹⁹O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you, and accomplished for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of everyone!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots; you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.

²¹Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege.

²²I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.

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

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.

²All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, 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 want.

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 right.

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

¹⁰The souls of the wicked desire evil; their neighbors find no mercy in their eyes.

¹¹When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wiser; when the wise are instructed, they increase in knowledge.

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

¹³If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.

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

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

¹⁶Whoever wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want; whoever loves wine and oil will not be rich.

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

¹⁹It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful wife.

²⁰Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.

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

²²One wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down the stronghold in which they trusted.

²³To watch over mouth and tongue is to keep out of trouble.

²⁴The proud, haughty person, named “Scoffer,” acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The craving of the lazy person is fatal, for lazy hands refuse to labor.

²⁶All day long the wicked covet, but the righteous give and do not hold back.

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

²⁸A false witness will perish, but a good listener will testify successfully.

²⁹The wicked put on a bold face, but the upright give thought to their 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?” The LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” He said, “To Hebron.”

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

³David brought up the men who were with him, every one with his household; and they settled in the towns of Hebron.

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

⁵David sent messengers to the people 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 too will reward you because you have done this thing.

⁷Therefore 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 son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbaal son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim.

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

¹⁰Ishbaal, 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.

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

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

¹³Joab son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat on one side of the pool, while the other sat on the other side of the pool.

¹⁴Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men come forward and have a contest before us.” Joab said, “Let them come forward.”

¹⁵So they came forward and were counted as they passed by, twelve for Benjamin and Ishbaal son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

¹⁶Each grasped 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.

¹⁷The battle was very fierce that day; and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten by the servants of David.

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

¹⁹Asahel pursued Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he followed him.

²⁰Then Abner looked back and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” He answered, “Yes, it is.”

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

²²Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn away from following me; why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I show my face to your brother Joab?”

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

²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. 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.

²⁵The Benjaminites rallied around Abner and formed a single band; they took their stand on the top of a hill.

²⁶Then Abner called to Joab, “Is the sword to keep devouring forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you order your people to turn from the pursuit of their kinsmen?”

²⁷Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, the people would have continued to pursue their kinsmen, not stopping until morning.”

²⁸Joab sounded the trumpet and all the people stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or engaged in battle any further.

²⁹Abner and his men traveled all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and, marching the whole forenoon, they came to Mahanaim.

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

³¹But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin three hundred sixty of Abner’s men.

³²They took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. 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 say to you, “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD: Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence, and those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine, and those destined for captivity, to captivity.

³And I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and destroy.

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

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

⁶You have rejected me, says the LORD, you are 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.

⁸Their widows became more numerous than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of youths a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon her suddenly.

⁹She who bore seven has languished; she has swooned 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, — says the LORD.

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that you ever 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: Surely I have intervened in your life for good, surely I have imposed enemies on you in a time of trouble and in a time of distress.

¹²Can iron and bronze break iron from the north?

¹³Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, 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 bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult.

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 merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation.

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

¹⁹Therefore thus says the LORD: If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will 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, — says the LORD.

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

¹While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”

²Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

³At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”

⁴Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

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

⁶When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

⁷When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)

⁹Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”

¹²In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who joined in this conspiracy.

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

¹⁵Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”

¹⁶Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush; so he went and gained entrance to 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 report to him.”

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

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

²⁰He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.

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

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

²³Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.

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

²⁵He 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, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him.

²⁸Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council.

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

³⁰When I was informed 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 during the night to Antipatris.

³²The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks.

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

³⁴On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.