Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So Pilate then took Jesus and had Him flogged.

²And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, and put a purple cloak on Him;

³and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.

⁴And then Pilate came out again and *said to them, “See, I am bringing Him out to you so that you will know that I find no grounds at all for charges in His case.”

⁵Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate *said to them, “Behold, the Man!”

⁶So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him; for I find no grounds for charges in His case!”

⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die, because He made Himself out to be the Son of God!”

⁸Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid;

⁹and he entered the Praetorium again and *said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰So Pilate *said to Him, “Are you not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”

¹¹Jesus answered him, “You would have no authorityover Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”

¹²As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release Him; but the Jews shouted, saying, “If you release this Man, you are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar!”

¹³Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement—but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

¹⁴Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Look, your King!”

¹⁵So they shouted, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”

¹⁶So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

¹⁷They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha.

¹⁸There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

¹⁹Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’ ”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts: a part to each soldier, and the tunic also; but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.

²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be.” This happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “THEY DIVIDED MY GARMENTS AMONG THEMSELVES, AND THEY CAST LOTS FOR MY CLOTHING.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Now beside the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

²⁶So when Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

²⁷Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, *said, “I am thirsty.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

³⁰Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

³¹Now then, since it was the day of preparation, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews requested of Pilate that their legs be broken, and the bodies be taken away.

³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other who was crucified with Him;

³³but after they came to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

³⁴Yet one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

³⁵And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

³⁶For these things took place so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.”

³⁷And again another Scripture says, “THEY WILL LOOK AT HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED.”

³⁸Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, requested of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.

³⁹Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred litras weight.

⁴⁰So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

⁴¹Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

⁴²Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

¹“You are sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave a bald spot above your forehead for the dead.

²For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³“You shall not eat any detestable thing.

⁴These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

⁶And any animal that has a divided hoof and has its hoofs split in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, that animal you may eat.

⁷However, you are not to eat these among the ones that chew the cud, or among those that have the hoof divided in two: the camel, the rabbit, and the rock hyrax, for though they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean to you.

⁸And the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

⁹“These you may eat of everything that is in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

¹⁰but anything that does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹“You may eat any clean bird.

¹²But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

¹³and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

¹⁴and every raven in its kind,

¹⁵and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk in their kinds,

¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

¹⁷the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

¹⁸the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹And all the swarming insects with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰You may eat any clean bird.

²¹“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²²“You shall certainly tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes from the field every year.

²³You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

²⁴But if the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you,

²⁵then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

²⁶And you may spend the money on whatever your heart desires: on oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸“At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall deposit it in your town.

²⁹And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

¹Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

²I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I intend to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh,

⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

⁵We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

⁶and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

⁷You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, have him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so too are we.

⁸For if I boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,

⁹for I do not want to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.

¹⁰For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

¹¹Have such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

¹²For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding.

¹³But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the domain which God assigned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.

¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;

¹⁵not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other people’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our domain, enlarged even more by you,

¹⁶so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the domain of another.

¹⁷But THE ONE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.

¹⁸For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,

²and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

³if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

⁴And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

⁵you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I AM LAYING IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNERSTONE, AND THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”

⁷This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for unbelievers, “A STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE,”

⁸and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed.

⁹But you are A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

¹⁰for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.

¹²Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God on the day of visitation.

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

¹⁴or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

¹⁵For such is the will of God, that by doing right you silence the ignorance of foolish people.

¹⁶Act as free people, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-servants of God.

¹⁷Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

¹⁸Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are harsh.

¹⁹For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person endures grief when suffering unjustly.

²⁰For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

²¹For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps,

²²HE who committed no sin, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT found IN HIS MOUTH;

²³and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

²⁴and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.

²⁵For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

¹I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.

²I said of laughter, “It is senseless,” and of pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

³I explored with my mind how to refresh my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely; and how to seize foolishness, until I could see what good there is for the sons of mankind to do under heaven for the few years of their lives.

⁴I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself;

⁵I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

⁶I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

⁷I bought male and female slaves, and I had slaves born at home. I also possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

⁸I also amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers, and the pleasures of the sons of mankind: many concubines.

⁹Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.

¹⁰All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not restrain my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor; and this was my reward for all my labor.

¹¹So I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all was futility and striving after wind, and there was no benefit under the sun.

¹²So I turned to consider wisdom, insanity, and foolishness; for what will the man do who will come after the king, except what has already been done?

¹³Then I saw that wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness.

¹⁴The wise person’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one and the same fate happens to both of them.

¹⁵Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is futility.”

¹⁶For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will soon be forgotten. And how the wise and the fool alike die!

¹⁷So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁸So I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is futility.

²⁰Therefore I completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

²¹When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then gives his legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil.

²²For what does a person get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

²³Because all his days his activity is painful and irritating; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is futility.

²⁴There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink, and show himself some good in his trouble. This too I have seen, that it is from the hand of God.

²⁵For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

²⁶For to a person who is good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is futility and striving after wind.

¹Save me, God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your power.

²Hear my prayer, God; Listen to the words of my mouth.

³For strangers have risen against me And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.

⁵He will pay back the evil to my enemies; Destroy them in Your faithfulness.

⁶Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, LORD, for it is good.

⁷For He has saved me from all trouble, And my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.

¹A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of a person’s mouth he enjoys good, But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

³One who guards his mouth protects his life; One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the lazy one craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made prosperous.

⁵A righteous person hates a false statement, But a wicked person acts disgustingly and shamefully.

⁶Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless, But wickedness brings the sinner to ruin.

⁷There is one who pretends to be rich but has nothing; Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a person’s life is his wealth, But the poor hears no rebuke.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰Through overconfidence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

¹¹Wealth obtained from nothing dwindles, But one who gathers by labor increases it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³One who despises the word will do badly, But one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn aside from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is their own disaster.

¹⁶Every prudent person acts with knowledge, But a fool displays foolishness.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into adversity, But a faithful messenger brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame will come to one who neglects discipline, But one who complies with rebuke will be honored.

¹⁹Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise people will be wise, But a companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.

²²A good person leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, And the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous.

²³Abundant food is in the uncultivated ground of the poor, But it is swept away by injustice.

²⁴He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

²⁵The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, But the stomach of the wicked is in need.

¹Now King David was old, advanced in age; and they covered him with garments, but he could not keep warm.

²So his servants said to him, “Have them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and have her attend the king and become his nurse; and have her lie on your chest, so that my lord the king may keep warm.”

³So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

⁴The girl was very beautiful; and she became the king’s nurse and served him, but the king did not become intimate with her.

⁵Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” So he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, with fifty men to run before him.

⁶And his father had never rebuked him at any time by asking, “Why have you done so?” And he was also a very handsome man, and he was born after Absalom.

⁷Now he had conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest; and they allied themselves with Adonijah.

⁸But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

⁹Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened steers by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel; and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.

¹⁰But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or his brother Solomon.

¹¹Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it?

¹²So now come, please let me give you advice, and save your life and the life of your son Solomon.

¹³Go at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’

¹⁴Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵So Bathsheba entered to the king in the bedroom. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.

¹⁶Then Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself before the king. And the king said, “What is on your mind?”

¹⁷So she said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to your servant by the LORD your God, saying, ‘Your son Solomon certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’

¹⁸But now, behold, Adonijah is king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know it.

¹⁹He has sacrificed oxen and fattened steers and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant.

²⁰And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to announce to them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

²¹Otherwise it will come about, as soon as my lord the king lies down with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered offenders.”

²²And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in.

²³They informed the king, saying, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And when he came into the king’s presence, he prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground.

²⁴Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you yourself said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’?

²⁵For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fattened steers and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they are eating and drinking in his presence; and they say, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

²⁶But me, even me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited.

²⁷Has this thing been done by my lord the king, and you have not let your servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

²⁸Then King David responded and said, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king.

²⁹Then the king vowed and said, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,

³⁰certainly as I vowed to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place’; I will indeed do so this day.”

³¹Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and prostrated herself before the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever.”

³²Then King David said, “Summon to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came into the king’s presence.

³³And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

³⁴And have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

³⁵Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.”

³⁶Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say the same.

³⁷Just as the LORD has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

³⁸So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.

³⁹And Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”

⁴⁰And all the people went up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth shook at their noise.

⁴¹Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard this as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city making such an uproar?”

⁴²While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a valiant man and you bring good news.”

⁴³But Jonathan replied to Adonijah, “On the contrary! Our lord King David has made Solomon king!

⁴⁴The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; and they have mounted him on the king’s mule.

⁴⁵Furthermore, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city is going wild. This is the noise which you have heard.

⁴⁶Besides, Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom.

⁴⁷Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne!’ And the king bowed himself on the bed.

⁴⁸The king has also said this: ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has granted one to sit on my throne today while my own eyes see it.’ ”

⁴⁹Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and got up, and each went on his way.

⁵⁰Adonijah also was afraid of Solomon, and he got up, and went, and took hold of the horns of the altar.

⁵¹Now it was reported to Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ ”

⁵²And Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he will die.”

⁵³So King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

¹Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying,

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Anyone who stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who surrenders to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as plunder, and stay alive.’

³This is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’ ”

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “Please have this man put to death, since he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking words like these to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm.”

⁵And King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.”

⁶So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

⁷But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin;

⁸and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying,

⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom, and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they pulled Jeremiah out with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah sent word and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the LORD; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me.”

¹⁵And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made this life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to these men who are seeking your life.”

¹⁷So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘If you will indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will survive.

¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hands.’ ”

¹⁹Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am in fear of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for they may hand me over to them, and they will abuse me.”

²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over. Please obey the LORD in what I am saying to you, so that it may go well for you and you may live.

²¹But if you keep refusing to surrender, this is the word which the LORD has shown me:

²²‘Behold, all of the women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say, “Your close friends Have misled and overpowered you; While your feet were sunk in the mire, They turned back.”

²³They are also going to bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die.

²⁵But if the officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’

²⁶then you are to say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”

²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the conversation had not been overheard.

²⁸So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

¹After these events Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,

³and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers by trade.

⁴And Paul was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

⁶But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household; and many of the Corinthians, as they listened to Paul, were believing and being baptized.

⁹And the Lord said to Paul by a vision at night, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;

¹⁰for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

¹¹And he settled there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,

¹³saying, “This man is inciting the people to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or vicious, unscrupulous act, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you;

¹⁵but if there are questions about teaching and persons and your own law, see to it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.”

¹⁶And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

¹⁷But they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. And yet Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

¹⁸Now Paul, when he had remained many days longer, took leave of the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. Paul first had his hair cut at Cenchrea, for he was keeping a vow.

¹⁹They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent,

²¹but took leave of them and said, “I will return to you again if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

²²When he had landed in Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch.

²³And after spending some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was proficient in the Scriptures.

²⁵This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was accurately speaking and teaching things about Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John;

²⁶and he began speaking boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately to him.

²⁷And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,

²⁸for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.