Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.

²And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.

³Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.

⁴So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.

⁵And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

⁶So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

⁷Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.

⁸And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

⁹So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”

¹⁰And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.

¹¹Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’

¹²Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”

¹³So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.

¹⁵Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

¹⁶for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves;

¹⁸for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁰Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

²¹But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.

²²And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

²³Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

²⁴Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.

²⁵And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’

²⁶But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

²⁷For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

²⁸“But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.

²⁹And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me,

³⁰that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

³¹And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

³²But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

³³But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”

³⁴Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”

³⁵And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.”

³⁶Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

³⁷For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”

³⁸So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

³⁹Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.

⁴⁰When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

⁴¹And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,

⁴²saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

⁴³Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

⁴⁴And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

⁴⁵When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.

⁴⁶Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

⁴⁷And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.

⁴⁸But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

⁵⁰And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

⁵²Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?

⁵³When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

⁵⁴Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance.

⁵⁵Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.

⁵⁶And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.”

⁵⁷But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”

⁵⁸And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”

⁵⁹Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.”

⁶⁰But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

⁶¹And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

⁶²So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

⁶³Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him.

⁶⁴And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?”

⁶⁵And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

⁶⁶As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying,

⁶⁷“If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe.

⁶⁸And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.

⁶⁹Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”

⁷⁰Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”

⁷¹And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

¹‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets.

²You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish.

³Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

⁴and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs;

⁵also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you;

⁶besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

⁷‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work.

⁸You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a sweet aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish.

⁹Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram,

¹⁰and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs;

¹¹also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

¹²‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work, and you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.

¹³You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year. They shall be without blemish.

¹⁴Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams,

¹⁵and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs;

¹⁶also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

¹⁷‘On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

¹⁸and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

¹⁹also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²⁰‘On the third day present eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

²¹and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

²²also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

²³‘On the fourth day present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year, without blemish,

²⁴and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

²⁵also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

²⁶‘On the fifth day present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

²⁷and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

²⁸also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

²⁹‘On the sixth day present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

³⁰and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

³¹also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

³²‘On the seventh day present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

³³and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

³⁴also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

³⁵‘On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work.

³⁶You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven lambs in their first year without blemish,

³⁷and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance;

³⁸also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

³⁹‘These you shall present to the LORD at your appointed feasts (besides your vowed offerings and your freewill offerings) as your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, as your drink offerings and your peace offerings.’ ”

⁴⁰So Moses told the children of Israel everything, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!

²And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

³For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁵deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

⁷Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

¹¹But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person.

¹²For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

¹³But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

⁴I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me.

⁶Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me.

⁷There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸“Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

⁹When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

¹⁰But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

¹³“But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.

¹⁴For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

¹⁶For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me;

¹⁷Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

¹Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.

²Praise the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.

³Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

⁴For the word of the LORD is right, And all His work is done in truth.

⁵He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

⁶By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

⁹For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

¹⁰The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.

¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

¹³The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.

¹⁴From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth;

¹⁵He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.

¹⁶No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a vain hope for safety; Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

¹⁸Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy,

¹⁹To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.

²¹For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name.

²²Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.

¹When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;

²And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.

⁴Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!

⁵Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

¹¹For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

¹⁶Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;

¹⁸For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.

²⁰Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

²²Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.

²⁸She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.

³¹Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;

³²At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.

³⁴Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

³⁵“They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”

¹When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled.

²Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For Beeroth also was part of Benjamin,

³because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)

⁴Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

⁵Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon.

⁶And they came there, all the way into the house, as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.

⁷For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain.

⁸And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.”

⁹But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity,

¹⁰when someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news.

¹¹How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?”

¹²So David commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

¹“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,

²While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills.

³O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, And your high places of sin within all your borders.

⁴And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”

⁵Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.

⁶For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.

⁷“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.

⁸For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

⁹“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

¹⁰I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹“As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool.”

¹²A glorious high throne from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters.”

¹⁴Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.

¹⁵Indeed they say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”

¹⁶As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You.

¹⁷Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom.

¹⁸Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And destroy them with double destruction!

¹⁹Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰and say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.

²¹Thus says the LORD: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;

²²nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

²³But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

²⁴“And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the LORD, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it,

²⁵then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.

²⁶And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the LORD.

²⁷“But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” ’ ”

¹Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

²Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him,

³asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem— while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him.

⁴But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he said, “let those who have authority among you go down with me and accuse this man, to see if there is any fault in him.”

⁶And when he had remained among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought.

⁷When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove,

⁸while he answered for himself, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.”

⁹But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?”

¹⁰So Paul said, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know.

¹¹For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!”

¹³And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.

¹⁴When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying: “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix,

¹⁵about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.

¹⁶To them I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.’

¹⁷Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed,

¹⁹but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

²⁰And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”

²³So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.

²⁵But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.

²⁶I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.”