Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

²Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

³Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

⁵Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”

⁶He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

⁷That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

⁸The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

⁹When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

¹⁴This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

¹⁵When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

¹⁹(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁰Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”

²¹When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”

²²Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

²³So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

²⁵Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

¹“Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

²And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.

³You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction — for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste — that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

⁴No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning.

⁵You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you,

⁶but at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.

⁷And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the LORD your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

⁸For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.

⁹“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

¹⁰Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.

¹¹And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

¹²You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

¹³“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.

¹⁴You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.

¹⁵For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

¹⁶“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.

¹⁷Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

¹⁸“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

²¹“You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God that you shall make.

²²And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

¹I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

³And I know that this man was caught up into paradise — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows —

⁴and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

⁵On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses —

⁶though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

⁷So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

¹²The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

¹⁷Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?

¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

²⁰For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish — that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

²¹I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

¹Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

²so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

³For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

⁴With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

⁵but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

⁶For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

⁷The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

⁸Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

⁹Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

¹⁰As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

¹¹whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

¹³But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

¹⁴If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

¹⁶Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

¹⁸And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

¹Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.

²And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

³But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

⁵The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

⁶Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun:

⁸one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

¹²And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

¹⁴For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.

¹⁵I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place.

¹⁶There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me;

²my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.

³When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.

⁷For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

¹²I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.

¹³For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

¹A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

⁵A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.

⁶In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves him who pursues righteousness.

¹⁰There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; whoever hates reproof will die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man!

¹²A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

¹⁴The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

¹⁹The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

²⁰A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.

²²Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

²³To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.

²⁵The LORD tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow's boundaries.

²⁶The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD, but gracious words are pure.

²⁷Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

²⁹The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones.

³¹The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.

³²Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

³³The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

¹Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.

²The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.

³Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.

⁴And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

⁶And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

⁷And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

⁸And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

¹⁰It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

¹¹And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,

¹²behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.

¹³I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.

¹⁴And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

¹⁵And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

¹⁷The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.

¹⁸Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.

¹⁹And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him.

²⁰And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.

²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.”

²²But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’”

²⁴And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king.

²⁵And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”

²⁶Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”

²⁷Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”

²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

²The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place.

³The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you.

⁴Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go.

⁵If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go.

⁶Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

⁷When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon,

⁸they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah — Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

⁹Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

¹⁰As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”

¹¹Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them,

¹²then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

¹³Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

¹⁴and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.

¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?”

¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.”

¹After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

³There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.

⁵These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

⁹And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

¹¹And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

¹²And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene.

¹⁵And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,

²¹testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,

²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

²⁸Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

³⁰and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

³²And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

³⁵In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.