Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.

³The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,

⁶saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

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, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.

¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles —

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

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.

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

²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

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

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

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them.

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

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

²Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops,

³and shall say to them: “Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them;

⁴for it is the LORD your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.”

⁵Then the officials shall address the troops, saying, “Has anyone built a new house but not dedicated it? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another dedicate it.

⁶Has anyone planted a vineyard but not yet enjoyed its fruit? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another be first to enjoy its fruit.

⁷Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another marry her.”

⁸The officials shall continue to address the troops, saying, “Is anyone afraid or disheartened? He should go back to his house, or he might cause the heart of his comrades to melt like his own.”

⁹When the officials have finished addressing the troops, then the commanders shall take charge of them.

¹⁰When you draw near to a town to fight against it, offer it terms of peace.

¹¹If it accepts your terms of peace and surrenders to you, then all the people in it shall serve you at forced labor.

¹²If it does not submit to you peacefully, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it;

¹³and when the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword.

¹⁴You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁵Thus you shall treat all the towns that are very far from you, which are not towns of the nations here.

¹⁶But as for the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.

¹⁷You shall annihilate them — the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites — just as the LORD your God has commanded,

¹⁸so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?

²⁰You may destroy only the trees that you know do not produce food; you may cut them down for use in building siegeworks against the town that makes war with you, until it falls.

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!

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

³Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?

⁴Did you experience so much for nothing? — if it really was for nothing.

⁵Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

⁶Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”

⁷so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.

⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.”

⁹For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”

¹¹Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

¹²But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” —

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

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.

¹⁶Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, “And to offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is Christ.

¹⁷My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

²¹Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law.

²²But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.

²⁴Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.

²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,

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

²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

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

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

¹This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you

²that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.

³First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts

⁴and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!”

⁵They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water,

⁶through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished.

⁷But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.

⁸But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.

⁹The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, 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, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness,

¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?

¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish;

¹⁵and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

¹⁶speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability.

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. Amen.

¹Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? Wisdom makes one’s face shine, and the hardness of one’s countenance is changed.

²Keep the king’s command because of your sacred oath.

³Do not be terrified; go from his presence, do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases.

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

⁵Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way.

⁶For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them.

⁷Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be?

⁸No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it.

⁹All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.

¹¹Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil.

¹²Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him,

¹³but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night,

¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.

¹O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us!

²You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.

³You have made your people suffer hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

⁴You have set up a banner for those who fear you, to rally to it out of bowshot. Selah

⁵Give victory with your right hand, and answer us, so that those whom you love may be rescued.

⁶God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

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

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

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

¹⁰Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.

¹¹O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.

¹²With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

¹Better the poor walking in integrity than one perverse of speech who is a fool.

²Desire without knowledge is not good, and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.

³One’s own folly leads to ruin, yet the heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth brings many friends, but the poor are left friendless.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and a liar will not escape.

⁶Many seek the favor of the generous, and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.

⁷If the poor are hated even by their kin, how much more are they shunned by their friends! When they call after them, they are not there.

⁸To get wisdom is to love oneself; to keep understanding is to prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and the liar will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

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

¹³A stupid child is ruin to a father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep; an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶Those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.

¹⁸Discipline your children while there is hope; do not set your heart on their destruction.

¹⁹A violent tempered person will pay the penalty; if you effect a rescue, you will only have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.

²¹The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.

²²What is desirable in a person is loyalty, and it is better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.

²⁴The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and will not even bring it back to the mouth.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

²⁷Cease straying, my child, from the words of knowledge, in order that you may hear instruction.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and flogging for the backs of fools.

¹Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.

²He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.

³It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars.

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

⁵All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

⁶He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

⁷He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from floor to floor.

⁸His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.

⁹All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping, and from outside to the great court.

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

¹¹There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood.

¹²The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the vestibule of the house.

¹³Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre.

¹⁴He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.

¹⁵He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same.

¹⁶He also made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

¹⁷There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

¹⁸He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital.

¹⁹Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high.

²⁰The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital.

²¹He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin; and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz.

²²On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

²³Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely.

²⁴Under its brim were panels all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast.

²⁵It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside.

²⁶Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

²⁷He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

²⁸This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames;

²⁹on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.

³⁰Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.

³¹Its opening was within the crown whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round.

³²The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

³³The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.

³⁴There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were of one piece with the stands.

³⁵On the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; on the top of the stand, its stays and its borders were of one piece with it.

³⁶On the surfaces of its stays and on its borders he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, where each had space, with wreaths all around.

³⁷In this way he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form.

³⁸He made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten stands.

³⁹He set five of the stands on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house; he set the sea on the southeast corner of the house.

⁴⁰Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD:

⁴¹the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;

⁴²the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

⁴³the ten stands, the ten basins on the stands;

⁴⁴the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.

⁴⁵The pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze.

⁴⁶In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

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

⁴⁸So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence,

⁴⁹the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

⁵⁰the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros,

²Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Look at them; today they are a desolation, without an inhabitant in them,

³because of the wickedness that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors.

⁴Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, “I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!”

⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods.

⁶So my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a waste and a desolation, as they still are today.

⁷And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant?

⁸Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle? Will you be cut off and become an object of cursing and ridicule among all the nations of the earth?

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

¹⁰They have shown no contrition or fear to this day, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.

¹¹Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am determined to bring disaster on you, to bring all Judah to an end.

¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to settle, and they shall perish, everyone; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall perish; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule.

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

¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah. Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives.

¹⁵Then all the men who were aware that their wives had been making offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:

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

¹⁷Instead, we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We used to have plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no misfortune.

¹⁸But from the time we stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹And the women said, “Indeed we will go on making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her; do you think that we made cakes for her, marked with her image, and poured out libations to her without our husbands’ being involved?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who were giving him this answer:

²¹“As for the offerings that you made in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind?

²²The LORD could no longer bear the sight of your evil doings, the abominations that you committed; therefore your land became a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is to this day.

²³It is because you burned offerings, and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his decrees, that this disaster has befallen you, as is still evident today.”

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

²⁵Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have accomplished in deeds what you declared in words, saying, ‘We are determined to perform the vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her.’ By all means, keep your vows and make your libations!

²⁶Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: Lo, I swear by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no longer be pronounced on the lips of any of the people of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.’

²⁷I am going to watch over them for harm and not for good; all the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall perish by the sword and by famine, until not one is left.

²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have come to the land of Egypt to settle, shall know whose words will stand, mine or theirs!

²⁹This shall be the sign to you, says the LORD, that I am going to punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words against you will surely be carried out:

³⁰Thus says the LORD, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, those who seek his life, just as I gave King Zedekiah of Judah into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.”

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Your Excellency, because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight.

³We welcome this in every way and everywhere with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, to detain you no further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.

⁵We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, and so we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn from him concerning everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹The Jews also joined in the charge by asserting that all this was true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied: “I cheerfully make my defense, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation.

¹¹As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city.

¹³Neither can they prove to you the charge that they now bring against me.

¹⁴But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God — a hope that they themselves also accept — that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience toward God and all people.

¹⁷Now after some years I came to bring alms to my nation and to offer sacrifices.

¹⁸While I was doing this, they found me in the temple, completing the rite of purification, without any crowd or disturbance.

¹⁹But there were some Jews from Asia — they ought to be here before you to make an accusation, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council,

²¹unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, ‘It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

²²But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³Then he ordered the centurion to keep him in custody, but to let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.

²⁴Some days later when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak concerning faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵And as he discussed justice, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.”

²⁶At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul, and for that reason he used to send for him very often and converse with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and since he wanted to grant the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.