Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

³So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

⁴Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

⁵And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,

⁷and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

⁸Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

⁹for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes.

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

¹²And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

¹⁴Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” — and that he had said these things to her.

¹⁹On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

²⁴Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

²⁶Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

¹“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.

²And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed.

³Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

⁴But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess —

⁵if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.

⁶For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

⁷“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

⁸but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

⁹Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin.

¹⁰You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

¹¹For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

¹²“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

¹³And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.

¹⁴You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

¹⁵You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

¹⁶But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you,

¹⁷then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

²⁰You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose.

²¹But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

²²You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.

²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

¹I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

²For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

⁵Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

⁶Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

¹⁶I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.

¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!

²⁰For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

²¹To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast of that.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one — I am talking like a madman — with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

²⁷in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

³²At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

³³but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

¹Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

²when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

³Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear —

⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

⁷Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

¹⁵but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

¹⁶having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

²⁰because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

¹For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

⁹What gain has the worker from his toil?

¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

¹²I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;

¹³also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil — this is God's gift to man.

¹⁴I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

¹⁵That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

¹⁶Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

¹⁷I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.

¹⁸I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.

¹⁹For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

²⁰All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

²¹Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

²²So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

¹Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

²Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

³because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

⁴My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

⁵Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

⁶And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

⁷yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

⁸I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;

¹¹ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

¹²For it is not an enemy who taunts me — then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me — then I could hide from him.

¹³But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.

¹⁴We used to take sweet counsel together; within God's house we walked in the throng.

¹⁵Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

¹⁶But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

¹⁸He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.

¹⁹God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.

²⁰My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.

²¹His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

²²Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

²³But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

¹The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

²Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises him.

³By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

⁵A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.

⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

⁷Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.

⁹Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.

¹⁴The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

¹⁵The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.

¹⁶One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.

¹⁷A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.

¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow down before the good, the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends.

²¹Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

²²Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness.

²³In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.

²⁷The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

²⁸In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, but without people a prince is ruined.

²⁹Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

³⁰A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.

³¹Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.

³³Wisdom rests in the heart of a man of understanding, but it makes itself known even in the midst of fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

³⁵A servant who deals wisely has the king's favor, but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully.

¹When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

²“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,

³and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,

⁴that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁵“Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.

⁶Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

⁷But deal loyally with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

⁸And there is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’

⁹Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”

¹⁰Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

¹¹And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

¹²So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peacefully?” He said, “Peacefully.”

¹⁴Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Speak.”

¹⁵He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from the LORD.

¹⁶And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷And he said, “Please ask King Solomon — he will not refuse you — to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

¹⁸Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.”

¹⁹So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.

²⁰Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

²¹She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.”

²²King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.”

²³Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life!

²⁴Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today.”

²⁵So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.

²⁶And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction.”

²⁷So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸When the news came to Joab — for Joab had supported Adonijah although he had not supported Absalom — Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar.

²⁹And when it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”

³⁰So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

³¹The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.

³²The LORD will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

³³So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.”

³⁴Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

³⁵The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

³⁶Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever.

³⁷For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head.”

³⁸And Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei's servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath,”

⁴⁰Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

⁴¹And when Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned,

⁴²the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’

⁴³Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I commanded you?”

⁴⁴The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So the LORD will bring back your harm on your own head.

⁴⁵But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”

⁴⁶Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.

²In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

³Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.

⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah.

⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him.

⁶The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.

⁷He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

⁸The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.

¹⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying,

¹²“Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.”

¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon

¹⁴sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he lived among the people.

¹⁵The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard:

¹⁶“Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day.

¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

¹⁸For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.’”

¹And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

²And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”

⁴And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

¹⁸Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.

²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel.

³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

³¹And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?

³⁶Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.