Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

²After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

³Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,

⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

⁷Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”

⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

⁹And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.

¹²When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

¹³He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

¹⁴This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

¹⁶The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

¹⁷From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.

¹⁹“Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”

²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them.

²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

²³Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

²⁴Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them.

²⁵Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

¹“When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

²When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army.

³He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them.

⁴For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’

⁵“The officers are to address the army, ‘Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

⁶Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.

⁷Has any man become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.’

⁸The officers will continue to address the army and say, ‘Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers won’t lose heart as he did.’

⁹When the officers have finished addressing the army, they will appoint military commanders to lead it.

¹⁰“When you approach a city to fight against it, make an offer of peace.

¹¹If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you.

¹²However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it.

¹³When the LORD your God hands it over to you, strike down all its males with the sword.

¹⁴But you may take the women, dependents, animals, and whatever else is in the city — all its spoil — as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁵This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and are not among the cities of these nations.

¹⁶However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹⁷You must completely destroy them — the Hethite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite — as the LORD your God has commanded you,

¹⁸so that they won’t teach you to do all the detestable acts they do for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹“When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. Do not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you?

²⁰But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

²I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

³Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?

⁴Did you experience so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing?

⁵So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —

⁶just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

⁷You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.

⁸Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

⁹Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.

¹¹Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

¹²But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

¹⁴The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

¹⁷My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one.

²¹Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

²²But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

²⁴The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

²⁵But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

²⁶for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

²⁸There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

¹Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder,

²so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.

³Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires,

⁴saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

⁵They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water.

⁶Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded.

⁷By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

⁹The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness

¹²as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat.

¹³But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace.

¹⁵Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.

¹⁶He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.

¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

¹Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

²Keep the king’s command because of your oath made before God.

³Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants.

⁴For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

⁶For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him.

⁷Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen?

⁸No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did those things. This too is futile.

¹¹Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before him.

¹³However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹⁵So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night),

¹⁷I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

¹For the choir director: according to “The Lily of Testimony.” A of David for teaching. When he fought with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in Salt Valley, killing twelve thousand. [1] God, you have rejected us; you have broken us down; you have been angry. Restore us!

²You have shaken the land and split it open. Heal its fissures, for it shudders.

³You have made your people suffer hardship; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

⁴You have given a signal flag to those who fear you, so that they can flee before the archers. Selah

⁵Save with your right hand, and answer me, so that those you love may be rescued.

⁶God has spoken in his sanctuary: “I will celebrate! I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

⁸Moab is my washbasin. I throw my sandal on Edom; I shout in triumph over Philistia.”

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰God, haven’t you rejected us? God, you do not march out with our armies.

¹¹Give us aid against the foe, for human help is worthless.

¹²With God we will perform valiantly; he will trample our foes.

¹Better a poor person who lives with integrity than someone who has deceitful lips and is a fool.

²Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins.

³A person’s own foolishness leads him astray, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor person is separated from his friend.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.

⁶Many seek a ruler’s favor, and everyone is a friend of one who gives gifts.

⁷All the brothers of a poor person hate him; how much more do his friends keep their distance from him! He may pursue them with words, but they are not there.

⁸The one who acquires good sense loves himself; one who safeguards understanding finds success.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies perishes.

¹⁰Luxury is not appropriate for a fool —  how much less for a slave to rule over princes!

¹¹A person’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s rage is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a wife’s nagging is an endless dripping.

¹⁴A house and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.

¹⁶The one who keeps commands preserves himself; one who disregards his ways will die.

¹⁷Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and he will give a reward to the lender.

¹⁸Discipline your son while there is hope; don’t set your heart on being the cause of his death.

¹⁹A person with intense anger bears the penalty; if you rescue him, you’ll have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life.

²¹Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the LORD’s decree will prevail.

²²What is desirable in a person is his fidelity; better to be a poor person than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life; one will sleep at night without danger.

²⁴The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth!

²⁵Strike a mocker, and the inexperienced learn a lesson; rebuke the discerning, and he gains knowledge.

²⁶The one who plunders his father and evicts his mother is a disgraceful and shameful son.

²⁷If you stop listening to correction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks justice, and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity.

²⁹Judgments are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

¹Solomon completed his entire palace complex after thirteen years of construction.

²He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was one hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars.

³It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that rested on forty-five pillars, fifteen per row.

⁴There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers.

⁵All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers.

⁶He made the hall of pillars seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them.

⁷He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge  — the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

⁸Solomon’s own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife.

⁹All of these buildings were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard.

¹⁰The foundation was made of large, costly stones twelve and fifteen feet long.

¹¹Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood.

¹²Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the LORD’s temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.

¹³King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre.

¹⁴He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze craftsman. Hiram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge to do every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.

¹⁵He cast two bronze pillars, each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference.

¹⁶He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; 7½ feet was the height of the first capital, and 7½ feet was also the height of the second capital.

¹⁷The capitals on top of the pillars had gratings of latticework, wreaths made of chainwork — seven for the first capital and seven for the second.

¹⁸He made the pillars with two encircling rows of pomegranates on the one grating to cover the capital on top; he did the same for the second capital.

¹⁹And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet high.

²⁰The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and two hundred pomegranates were in rows encircling each capital.

²¹He set up the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz.

²²The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.

²³He made the cast metal basin, 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet high and 45 feet in circumference.

²⁴Ornamental gourds encircled it below the brim, ten every half yard, completely encircling the basin. The gourds were cast in two rows when the basin was cast.

²⁵It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The basin was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center.

²⁶The basin was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held eleven thousand gallons.

²⁷Then he made ten bronze water carts. Each water cart was 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4½ feet high.

²⁸This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces,

²⁹and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

³⁰Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath.

³¹And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was eighteen inches wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal twenty-seven inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round.

³²There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was twenty-seven inches tall.

³³The wheels’ design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart.

³⁵At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it.

³⁶He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths.

³⁷In this way he made the ten water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them.

³⁸Then he made ten bronze basins  — each basin held 220 gallons and each was six feet wide — one basin for each of the ten water carts.

³⁹He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the basin near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.

⁴⁰Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the LORD’s temple:

⁴¹two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;

⁴²the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars );

⁴³the ten water carts; the ten basins on the water carts;

⁴⁴the basin; the twelve oxen underneath the basin;

⁴⁵and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the LORD’s temple were made of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸Solomon also made all the equipment in the LORD’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the Bread of the Presence was placed on;

⁴⁹the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

⁵⁰the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles, and firepans; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary.

⁵¹So all the work King Solomon did in the LORD’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David  — the silver, the gold, and the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt — at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:

²“This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah’s cities. Look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them

³because of the evil they committed to anger me, by going and burning incense to serve other gods that they, you, and your fathers did not know.

⁴So I sent you all my servants the prophets time and time again, saying, ‘Don’t commit this detestable action that I hate.’

⁵But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

⁶So my fierce wrath poured out and burned in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.

⁷“So now, this is what the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such terrible harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, infant and nursing baby from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.

⁸You are angering me by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to stay for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an example for cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.

⁹Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of Judah’s kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or followed my instruction or my statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.

¹¹“Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to set my face against you to bring disaster, to cut off all Judah.

¹²And I will take away the remnant of Judah, those who have set their face to go to the land of Egypt to stay there. All of them will meet their end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an example for cursing, scorn, execration, and disgrace.

¹³I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague.

¹⁴Then the remnant of Judah — those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt — will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing to return to stay, for they will not return except for a few fugitives.”

¹⁵However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by — a great assembly — and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah,

¹⁶“As for the word you spoke to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you!

¹⁷Instead, we will do everything we promised: we will burn incense to the queen of heaven and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah’s cities and in Jerusalem’s streets. Then we had enough food, we were well off, and we saw no disaster,

¹⁸but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end.”

¹⁹And the women said, “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands’ knowledge that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰But Jeremiah responded to all the people — the men, women, and all the people who were answering him:

²¹“As for the incense you burned in Judah’s cities and in Jerusalem’s streets — you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land — did the LORD not remember them? He brought this to mind.

²²The LORD can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an example for cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today.

²³Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD and didn’t obey the LORD and didn’t follow his instruction, his statutes, and his testimonies, this disaster has come to you, as you see today.”

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

²⁵This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for you and your wives, you women have spoken with your mouths, and you men fulfilled it by your deeds, saying, “We will keep our vows that we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings for her.” Go ahead, confirm your vows! Keep your vows!’

²⁶“Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: ‘I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord GOD lives.”

²⁷I am watching over them for disaster and not for good, and everyone from Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off.

²⁸Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to stay there for a while, will know whose word stands, mine or theirs!

²⁹This will be a sign to you’ — this is the LORD’s declaration — ‘that I will punish you in this place, so you may know that my words of disaster concerning you will certainly come to pass.

³⁰This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand over Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt’s king, to his enemies, to those who intend to take his life, just as I handed over Judah’s King Zedekiah to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, who was his enemy, the one who intended to take his life.’”

¹Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.

³We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.

⁵For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him. By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

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⁹The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.

¹¹You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.

¹⁷After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.

¹⁸While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

¹⁹It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

²¹other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

²²Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.

²⁴Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money. So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.