Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate.

²And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

³And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”

⁵But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

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

⁷And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

⁹So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.

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

¹¹And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

¹²And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

¹³Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

¹⁵Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him.

¹⁶I will therefore punish and release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas” —

¹⁹a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.

²⁰Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus,

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

²²A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.”

²³But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

²⁴So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.

²⁵He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

²⁶And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.

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

²⁹For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

³⁰ Then 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, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

³³And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine

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

³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

⁴¹And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

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

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

⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,

⁴⁵while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

⁴⁶Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

⁴⁷Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”

⁴⁸And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

⁴⁹And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

⁵⁰Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man,

⁵¹who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.

⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

⁵⁶Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

¹Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the LORD has commanded.

²If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

³“If a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth,

⁴and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand.

⁵But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.

⁶“If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself,

⁷and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.

⁸But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. And the LORD will forgive her.

⁹(But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.)

¹⁰And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath,

¹¹and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand.

¹²But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the LORD will forgive her.

¹³Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void.

¹⁴But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them.

¹⁵But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”

¹⁶These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house.

¹When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

²Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

³Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

⁴So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,

⁶but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

⁷To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸But you yourselves wrong and defraud — even your own brothers!

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you. 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“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

¹³“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” — and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

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

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

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

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

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

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

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

³As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,

⁴nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

⁵The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

⁶Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,

⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

⁸Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,

⁹understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

¹¹in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

¹²I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,

¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,

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

¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

¹⁹holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,

²⁰among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

¹“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?

²Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

⁷They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

⁹(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

¹¹among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

¹⁷For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

²¹“They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

²²Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

²³He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

²⁵If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

¹I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

²My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

³Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

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

⁵Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

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

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

⁸Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

⁹Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

¹⁰The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

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

¹²What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

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

¹⁵The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

¹⁶The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

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

²¹Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

²²The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

¹Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them,

²for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.

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

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,

⁶for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

⁸Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer.

⁹The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home;

¹⁶for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

¹⁸lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

¹⁹Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked,

²⁰for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise,

²²for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

²³These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good.

²⁴Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

²⁵but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

²⁸Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

³¹and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

³²Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.

³³A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

³⁴and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.

²In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”

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

⁴David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

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

⁶And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off” — thinking, “David cannot come in here.”

⁷Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

⁸And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David's soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”

⁹And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward.

¹⁰And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.

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

¹³And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.

¹⁴And these are the names of those who were 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, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.

¹⁸Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.”

²⁰And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.

²¹And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

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

²³And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees.

²⁴And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

²⁵And David did as the LORD commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.”

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

⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁶“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,

⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.

⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,

¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.

¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’

¹²“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?

¹⁵But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,

¹⁶making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.

¹⁷Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.”

¹⁸Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

¹⁹Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries.

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

²¹Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.

²²May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.

²³Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

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

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

³especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.

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

⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,

⁷to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!

⁸Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles — to whom I am sending you

¹⁸ to 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 place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

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

²²To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:

²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”

²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”

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