Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was with God in the beginning.

³All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

⁵That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

⁷He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.

⁸He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him.

¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

¹²But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

¹³who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”)

¹⁶Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,

¹⁷for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side —he has revealed him.

¹⁹This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹“What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered.

²²“Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

²³He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord  — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

²⁵So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him.

²⁷He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

²⁸All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁰This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’

³¹I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so he might be revealed to Israel.”

³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.

³³I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on — he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁴I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples.

³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

³⁸When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹“Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him.

⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”),

⁴²and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter” ).

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets ): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered.

⁴⁷Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

⁴⁹“Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”

⁵¹Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

¹The Reubenites and Gadites had a very large number of livestock. When they surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, they saw that the region was a good one for livestock.

²So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the leaders of the community and said:

³“The territory of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

⁴which the LORD struck down before the community of Israel, is good land for livestock, and your servants own livestock.”

⁵They said, “If we have found favor with you, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Don’t make us cross the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your brothers go to war while you stay here?

⁷Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land the LORD has given them?

⁸That’s what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

⁹After they went up as far as Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.

¹⁰So the LORD’s anger burned that day, and he swore an oath:

¹¹‘Because they did not remain loyal to me, none of the men twenty years old or more who came up from Egypt will see the land I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob  —

¹²none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, because they did remain loyal to the LORD.’

¹³The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years until the whole generation that had done what was evil in the LORD’s sight was gone.

¹⁴And here you, a brood of sinners, stand in your fathers’ place adding even more to the LORD’s burning anger against Israel.

¹⁵If you turn back from following him, he will once again leave this people in the wilderness, and you will destroy all of them.”

¹⁶Then they approached him and said, “We want to build sheep pens here for our livestock and cities for our dependents.

¹⁷But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁸We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has taken possession of his inheritance.

¹⁹Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance will be across the Jordan to the east.”

²⁰Moses replied to them, “If you do this — if you arm yourselves for battle before the LORD,

²¹and every one of your armed men crosses the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven his enemies from his presence,

²²and the land is subdued before the LORD  — afterward you may return and be free from obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the LORD.

²³But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD; be sure your sin will catch up with you.

²⁴Build cities for your dependents and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

²⁵The Gadites and Reubenites answered Moses, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands.

²⁶Our dependents, wives, livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead,

²⁷but your servants are equipped for war before the LORD and will go across to the battle as my lord orders.”

²⁸So Moses gave orders about them to the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes.

²⁹Moses told them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man in battle formation before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

³⁰But if they don’t go across with you in battle formation, they must accept land in Canaan with you.”

³¹The Gadites and Reubenites replied, “What the LORD has spoken to your servants is what we will do.

³²We will cross over in battle formation before the LORD into the land of Canaan, but we will keep our hereditary possession across the Jordan.”

³³So Moses gave them — the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph — the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.

³⁴The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

³⁶Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and built sheep pens.

³⁷The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

³⁸as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.

³⁹The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled in it.

⁴¹Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages, which he renamed Jair’s Villages.

⁴²Nobah went and captured Kenath with its surrounding villages and called it Nobah after his own name.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

³But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

⁴About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

⁹But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.

¹²Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

¹This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.”

²An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

³not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy.

⁴He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity.

⁵(If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?)

⁶He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil.

⁷Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.

⁸Deacons, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money,

⁹holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

¹⁰They must also be tested first; if they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.

¹¹Wives, too, must be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything.

¹²Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently.

¹³For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon.

¹⁵But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

¹⁶And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

¹Then Job answered:

²How you have helped the powerless and delivered the arm that is weak!

³How you have counseled the unwise and abundantly provided insight!

⁴With whom did you speak these words? Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵The departed spirits tremble beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁷He stretches the northern skies over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He wraps up the water in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.

⁹He obscures the view of his throne, spreading his cloud over it.

¹⁰He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars that hold up the sky tremble, astounded at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he stirred the sea, and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.

¹³By his breath the heavens gained their beauty; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴These are but the fringes of his ways; how faint is the word we hear of him! Who can understand his mighty thunder?

¹For the choir director. Of David, the LORD’s servant. [1] An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked person: Dread of God has no effect on him.

²For with his flattering opinion of himself, he does not discover and hate his iniquity.

³The words from his mouth are malicious and deceptive; he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.

⁴Even on his bed he makes malicious plans. He sets himself on a path that is not good, and he does not reject evil.

⁵LORD, your faithful love reaches to heaven, your faithfulness to the clouds.

⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea. LORD, you preserve people and animals.

⁷How priceless your faithful love is, God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸They are filled from the abundance of your house. You let them drink from your refreshing stream.

⁹For the wellspring of life is with you. By means of your light we see light.

¹⁰Spread your faithful love over those who know you, and your righteousness over the upright in heart.

¹¹Do not let the foot of the arrogant come near me or the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹²There! The evildoers have fallen. They have been thrown down and cannot rise.

¹Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor is inappropriate for a fool.

²Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.

⁴Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness or you’ll be like him yourself.

⁵Answer a fool according to his foolishness or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.

⁶The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.

⁷A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like lame legs that hang limp.

⁸Giving honor to a fool is like binding a stone in a sling.

⁹A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a stick with thorns, brandished by the hand of a drunkard.

¹⁰The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by is like an archer who wounds everyone.

¹¹As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.

¹²Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road — a lion in the public square!”

¹⁴A door turns on its hinges, and a slacker, on his bed.

¹⁵The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!

¹⁶In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser than seven who can answer sensibly.

¹⁷A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.

¹⁸Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows,

¹⁹so is the person who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

²⁰Without wood, fire goes out; without a gossip, conflict dies down.

²¹As charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being.

²³Smooth lips with an evil heart are like glaze on an earthen vessel.

²⁴A hateful person disguises himself with his speech and harbors deceit within.

²⁵When he speaks graciously, don’t believe him, for there are seven detestable things in his heart.

²⁶Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his evil will be revealed in the assembly.

²⁷The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone — it will come back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

¹When the king had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,

²the king said to the prophet Nathan, “Look, I am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains.”

³So Nathan told the king, “Go and do all that is on your mind, for the LORD is with you.”

⁴But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:

⁵“Go to my servant David and say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you to build me a house to dwell in?

⁶From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have been moving around with a tent as my dwelling.

⁷In all my journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever spoken a word to one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?’

⁸“So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.

⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a great name for you like that of the greatest on the earth.

¹⁰I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done

¹¹ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The LORD declares to you: The LORD himself will make a house for you.

¹²When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁴I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals.

¹⁵But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

¹⁶Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’”

¹⁷Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

¹⁸Then King David went in, sat in the LORD’s presence, and said, Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house that you have brought me this far?

¹⁹What you have done so far was a little thing to you, Lord GOD, for you have also spoken about your servant’s house in the distant future. And this is a revelation for mankind, Lord GOD.

²⁰What more can David say to you? You know your servant, Lord GOD.

²¹Because of your word and according to your will, you have revealed all these great things to your servant.

²²This is why you are great, Lord GOD. There is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, as all we have heard confirms.

²³And who is like your people Israel? God came to one nation on earth in order to redeem a people for himself, to make a name for himself, and to perform for them great and awesome acts, driving out nations and their gods before your people you redeemed for yourself from Egypt.

²⁴You established your people Israel to be your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

²⁵Now, LORD God, fulfill the promise forever that you have made to your servant and his house. Do as you have promised,

²⁶so that your name will be exalted forever, when it is said, “The LORD of Armies is God over Israel.” The house of your servant David will be established before you

²⁷since you, LORD of Armies, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant when you said, “I will build a house for you.” Therefore, your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to you.

²⁸Lord GOD, you are God; your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

²⁹Now, please bless your servant’s house so that it will continue before you forever. For you, Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing your servant’s house will be blessed forever.

¹Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and chief official in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

²So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the LORD’s temple.

³The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Terror Is on Every Side,

⁴for this is what the LORD says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.

⁵I will give away all the wealth of this city, all its products and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.

⁶As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’”

⁷You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out, I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” so the word of the LORD has become my constant disgrace and derision.

⁹I say, “I won’t mention him or speak any longer in his name.” But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

¹⁰For I have heard the gossip of many people, “Terror is on every side! Report him; let’s report him!” Everyone I trusted watches for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him.”

¹¹But the LORD is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.

¹²LORD of Armies, testing the righteous and seeing the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to you.

¹³Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD, for he rescues the life of the needy from evil people.

¹⁴May the day I was born be cursed. May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.

¹⁵May the man be cursed who brought the news to my father, saying, “A male child is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

¹⁶Let that man be like the cities the LORD demolished without compassion. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a war cry at noontime

¹⁷because he didn’t kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow, to end my life in shame?

¹Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

³As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

²⁰For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah

²⁶when he said, Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

²⁷For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,

³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.