Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then their whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

³So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”

⁴Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for charging this man.”

⁵But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he started even to here.”

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean.

⁷Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle performed by him.

⁹So he kept asking him questions, but Jesus did not answer him.

¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

¹¹Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That very day Herod and Pilate became friends. Previously, they had been enemies.

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, “You have brought me this man as one who misleads the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of.

¹⁵Neither has Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has done nothing to deserve death.

¹⁶Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then they all cried out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas to us!”

¹⁹(He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,

²¹but they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

²²A third time he said to them, “Why? What has this man done wrong? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

²³But they kept up the pressure, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified, and their voices won out.

²⁴So Pilate decided to grant their demand

²⁵and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him.

²⁸But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.

²⁹Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us! ’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’

³¹For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two others — criminals  — were also led away to be executed with him.

³³When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

³⁵The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine

³⁷and said, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸An inscription was above him: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁹Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?

⁴¹We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

⁴⁴It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three,

⁴⁵because the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.

⁴⁶And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous!”

⁴⁸All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests.

⁴⁹But all who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin,

⁵¹who had not agreed with their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

⁵²He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body.

⁵³Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

⁵⁴It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed.

⁵⁶Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

¹Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes, “This is what the LORD has commanded:

²When a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.

³“When a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or puts herself under an obligation,

⁴and her father hears about her vow or the obligation she put herself under, and he says nothing to her, all her vows and every obligation she put herself under are binding.

⁵But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, none of her vows and none of the obligations she put herself under are binding. The LORD will release her because her father has prohibited her.

⁶“If a woman marries while her vows or the rash commitment she herself made are binding,

⁷and her husband hears about it and says nothing to her when he finds out, her vows are binding, and the obligations she put herself under are binding.

⁸But if her husband prohibits her when he hears about it, he will cancel her vow that is binding or the rash commitment she herself made, and the LORD will release her.

⁹“Every vow a widow or divorced woman puts herself under is binding on her.

¹⁰“If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath,

¹¹and her husband hears about it, says nothing to her, and does not prohibit her, all her vows are binding, and every obligation she put herself under is binding.

¹²But if her husband cancels them on the day he hears about it, nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or her obligation, is binding. Her husband has canceled them, and the LORD will release her.

¹³Her husband may confirm or cancel any vow or any sworn obligation to deny herself.

¹⁴If her husband says nothing at all to her from day to day, he confirms all her vows and obligations, which are binding. He has confirmed them because he said nothing to her when he heard about them.

¹⁵But if he cancels them after he hears about them, he will be responsible for her commitment.”

¹⁶These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, or between a father and his daughter in his house during her youth.

¹If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels — how much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

⁶Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat — and you do this to brothers and sisters!

⁹Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,

¹⁰no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

¹¹And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

¹⁶Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

¹⁷But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

¹⁹Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

²To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine

⁴or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

⁵Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

⁶Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

⁷They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

⁸But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

⁹We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

¹²I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry —

¹³even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief,

¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”  — and I am the worst of them.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight,

¹⁹having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have shipwrecked their faith.

²⁰Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

¹Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why do those who know him never see his days?

²The wicked displace boundary markers. They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.

³They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless and take the widow’s ox as collateral.

⁴They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are forced into hiding.

⁵Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor go out to their task of foraging for food; the desert provides nourishment for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Without clothing, they spend the night naked, having no covering against the cold.

⁸Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks, shelterless.

⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.

¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry sheaves but go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives in their presses; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

¹²From the city, men groan; the mortally wounded cry for help, yet God pays no attention to this crime.

¹³The wicked are those who rebel against the light. They do not recognize its ways or stay on its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and by night he becomes a thief.

¹⁵The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight, thinking, “No eye will see me,” and he covers his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break into houses; by day they lock themselves in, never experiencing the light.

¹⁷For the morning is like darkness to them. Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸They float on the surface of the water. Their section of the land is cursed, so that they never go to their vineyards.

¹⁹As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them; worms feed on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive, and do not deal kindly with the widow.

²²Yet God drags away the mighty by his power; when he rises up, they have no assurance of life.

²³He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it, but his eyes watch over their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then gone; they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else. They wither like heads of grain.

²⁵If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar and show that my speech is worthless?

¹Concerning David, when he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech, who drove him out, and he departed. [1] I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

²I will boast in the LORD; the humble will hear and be glad.

³Proclaim the LORD’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.

⁴I sought the LORD, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.

⁵Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.

⁶This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him from all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.

⁸Taste and see that the LORD is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

⁹You who are his holy ones, fear the LORD, for those who fear him lack nothing.

¹⁰Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.

¹¹Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹²Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

¹⁴Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help.

¹⁶The face of the LORD is set against those who do what is evil, to remove all memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.

¹⁸The LORD is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.

¹⁹One who is righteous has many adversities, but the LORD rescues him from them all.

²⁰He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.

²¹Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.

²²The LORD redeems the life of his servants, and all who take refuge in him will not be punished.

¹Don’t envy the evil or desire to be with them,

²for their hearts plan violence, and their words stir up trouble.

³A house is built by wisdom, and it is established by understanding;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.

⁵A wise warrior is better than a strong one, and a man of knowledge than one of strength;

⁶for you should wage war with sound guidance — victory comes with many counselors.

⁷Wisdom is inaccessible to a fool; he does not open his mouth at the city gate.

⁸The one who plots evil will be called a schemer.

⁹A foolish scheme is sin, and a mocker is detestable to people.

¹⁰If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.

¹¹Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,” won’t he who weighs hearts consider it? Won’t he who protects your life know? Won’t he repay a person according to his work?

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;

¹⁴realize that wisdom is the same for you. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

¹⁵Don’t set an ambush, you wicked one, at the camp of the righteous man; don’t destroy his dwelling.

¹⁶Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

¹⁷Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸or the LORD will see, be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him.

¹⁹Don’t be agitated by evildoers, and don’t envy the wicked.

²⁰For the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD, as well as the king, and don’t associate with rebels,

²²for destruction will come suddenly from them; who knows what distress these two can bring?

²³These sayings also belong to the wise: It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”  — peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

²⁵but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a generous blessing will come to them.

²⁶He who gives an honest answer gives a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Complete your outdoor work, and prepare your field; afterward, build your house.

²⁸Don’t testify against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips.

²⁹Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me; I’ll repay the man for what he has done.”

³⁰I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of one lacking sense.

³¹Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined.

³²I saw, and took it to heart; I looked, and received instruction:

³³a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

³⁴and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need, like a bandit.

¹All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

²Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The LORD also said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.’”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the LORD’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.

⁴David was thirty years old when he began his reign; he reigned forty years.

⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

⁶The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you” thinking, “David can’t get in here.”

⁷Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

⁸He said that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David.” For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.”

⁹David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward.

¹⁰David became more and more powerful, and the LORD God of Armies was with him.

¹¹King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.

¹²Then David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

¹³After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

¹⁴These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

¹⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

¹⁶Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸So the Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹Then David inquired of the LORD: “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The LORD replied to David, “Attack, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.”

²⁰So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has burst out against my enemies before me.” Therefore, he named that place The Lord Bursts Out.

²¹The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.

²²The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

²³So David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, “Do not attack directly, but circle around behind them and come at them opposite the balsam trees.

²⁴When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the LORD will have gone out ahead of you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

²⁵So David did exactly as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal my words to you.”

³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.

⁴But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

⁵The word of the LORD came to me:

⁶“House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?” — this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

⁷At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.

⁸However, if that nation about which I have made the announcement turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.

⁹At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.

¹⁰However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.

¹¹So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look, I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.’

¹²But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

¹³Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Ask among the nations, who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?

¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads, and make them walk on new paths, not the highway.

¹⁶They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads.

¹⁷I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them my back and not my face on the day of their calamity.

¹⁸Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet. Come, let’s denounce him and pay no attention to all his words.”

¹⁹Pay attention to me, LORD. Hear what my opponents are saying!

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your anger from them.

²¹Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

²²Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

²³But you, LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their iniquity; do not blot out their sin before you. Let them be forced to stumble before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”