Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

³Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

⁴But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

⁵Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him 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 shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

⁷Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”

⁸Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

¹¹Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.

¹³And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

¹⁴that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

¹⁵“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:

¹⁶The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

¹⁸And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

¹⁹Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

²⁰They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

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

²²and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

²³And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

²⁴Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.

²⁵Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

¹“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

²So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people.

³And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them;

⁴for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

⁵“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

⁶Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.

⁷And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

⁸“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’

⁹And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

¹⁰“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.

¹¹And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.

¹²Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

¹³And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶“But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,

¹⁷but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

¹⁸lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹“When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food.

²⁰Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

²This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

³Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

⁴Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

⁵Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

⁶just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

⁷Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

⁸And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

⁹So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

¹¹But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

¹²Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

¹³Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

¹⁴that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.

¹⁶Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

¹⁷And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

²¹Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

²²But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

²⁴Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

²⁵But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

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

²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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

¹Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),

²that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,

³knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,

⁴and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

⁵For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,

⁶by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

⁷But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

⁸But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

⁹The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

¹¹Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

¹²looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

¹³Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

¹⁵and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,

¹⁶as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;

¹⁸but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

¹Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed.

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God.

³Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,

⁶Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly.

⁷For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?

⁸No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

⁹All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.

¹¹Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.

¹³But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,

¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

¹To the Chief Musician. Set to “Lily of the Testimony.” A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. [1] O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!

²You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.

³You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion.

⁴You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

⁵That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

⁶God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem And measure out the Valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver.

⁸Moab is My washpot; Over Edom I will cast My shoe; Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”

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

¹⁰Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?

¹¹Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.

¹²Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

¹Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

²Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet.

³The foolishness of a man twists his way, And his heart frets against the LORD.

⁴Wealth makes many friends, But the poor is separated from his friend.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies will not escape.

⁶Many entreat the favor of the nobility, And every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.

⁷All the brothers of the poor hate him; How much more do his friends go far from him! He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.

⁸He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies shall perish.

¹⁰Luxury is not fitting for a fool, Much less for a servant to rule over princes.

¹¹The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.

¹²The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish son is the ruin of his father, And the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.

¹⁴Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, And an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, But he who is careless of his ways will die.

¹⁷He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.

¹⁸Chasten your son while there is hope, And do not set your heart on his destruction.

¹⁹A man of great wrath will suffer punishment; For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.

²¹There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.

²²What is desired in a man is kindness, And a poor man is better than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.

²⁴A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl, And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.

²⁶He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

²⁷Cease listening to instruction, my son, And you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A disreputable witness scorns justice, And the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Judgments are prepared for scoffers, And beatings for the backs of fools.

¹But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.

²He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars.

³And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row.

⁴There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁵And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁶He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.

⁷Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.

⁸And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as wife.

⁹All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court.

¹⁰The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits.

¹¹And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood.

¹²The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the LORD and the vestibule of the temple.

¹³Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from Tyre.

¹⁴He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

¹⁵And he cast two pillars of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each.

¹⁶Then he made two capitals of cast bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

¹⁷He made a lattice network, with wreaths of chainwork, for the capitals which were on top of the pillars: seven chains for one capital and seven for the other capital.

¹⁸So he made the pillars, and two rows of pomegranates above the network all around to cover the capitals that were on top; and thus he did for the other capital.

¹⁹The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape of lilies, four cubits.

²⁰The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the network; and there were two hundred such pomegranates in rows on each of the capitals all around.

²¹Then he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the right and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz.

²²The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars was finished.

²³And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

²⁴Below its brim were ornamental buds encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The ornamental buds were cast in two rows when it was cast.

²⁵It stood on twelve oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward.

²⁶It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained two thousand baths.

²⁷He also made ten carts of bronze; four cubits was the length of each cart, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

²⁸And this was the design of the carts: They had panels, and the panels were between frames;

²⁹on the panels that were between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. And on the frames was a pedestal on top. Below the lions and oxen were wreaths of plaited work.

³⁰Every cart had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and its four feet had supports. Under the laver were supports of cast bronze beside each wreath.

³¹Its opening inside the crown at the top was one cubit in diameter; and the opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, one and a half cubits in outside diameter; and also on the opening were engravings, but the panels were square, not round.

³²Under the panels were the four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined to the cart. The height of a wheel was one and a half cubits.

³³The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel; their axle pins, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast bronze.

³⁴And there were four supports at the four corners of each cart; its supports were part of the cart itself.

³⁵On the top of the cart, at the height of half a cubit, it was perfectly round. And on the top of the cart, its flanges and its panels were of the same casting.

³⁶On the plates of its flanges and on its panels he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was a clear space on each, with wreaths all around.

³⁷Thus he made the ten carts. All of them were of the same mold, one measure, and one shape.

³⁸Then he made ten lavers of bronze; each laver contained forty baths, and each laver was four cubits. On each of the ten carts was a laver.

³⁹And he put five carts on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the southeast.

⁴⁰Huram made the lavers and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing all the work that he was to do for King Solomon for the house of the LORD:

⁴¹the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars;

⁴²four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars);

⁴³the ten carts, and ten lavers on the carts;

⁴⁴one Sea, and twelve oxen under the Sea;

⁴⁵the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All these articles which Huram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and Zaretan.

⁴⁷And Solomon did not weigh all the articles, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread;

⁴⁹the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold;

⁵⁰the basins, the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

⁵¹So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and the furnishings. He put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

²“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them,

³because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers.

⁴However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!”

⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.

⁶So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’

⁷“Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain,

⁸in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

⁹Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’

¹¹“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah.

¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach!

¹³For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence,

¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’ ”

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying:

¹⁶“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!

¹⁷But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.

¹⁸But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹The women also said, “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying:

²¹“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into His mind?

²²So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!

²⁵Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’

²⁶Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the LORD, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord GOD lives.”

²⁷Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them.

²⁸Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.

²⁹And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity.’

³⁰“Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”

¹Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.

²And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight,

³we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.

⁴Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us.

⁵For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.

⁷But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,

⁸commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.”

⁹And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so.

¹⁰Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself,

¹¹because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.

¹³Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.

¹⁴But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

¹⁵I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

¹⁶This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

¹⁷“Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation,

¹⁸in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult.

¹⁹They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me.

²⁰Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council,

²¹unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’ ”

²²But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.”

²³So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him.

²⁴And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

²⁵Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

²⁶Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.

²⁷But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.