Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

²Then he began to teach them, saying:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. j

⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

¹¹“You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

¹²Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.

¹⁵No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.

¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.

¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

²¹“You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.

²²But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.

²³So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,

²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

²⁵Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.

²⁶Truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.

²⁸But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

³¹“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.

³²But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors,  You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.

³⁴But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne;

³⁵or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.

³⁶Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

³⁷But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

³⁹But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

⁴⁰As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.

⁴¹And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?

⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

¹“If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

²your elders and judges are to come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities.

³The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.

⁴The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.

⁵Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and pronounce blessings in his name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

⁶All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken.

⁷They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it.

⁸LORD, wipe away the guilt of your people Israel whom you redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.’ Then the responsibility for bloodshed will be wiped away from them.

⁹You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the LORD’s sight.

¹⁰“When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and

¹¹if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife,

¹²you are to bring her into your house. She is to shave her head, trim her nails,

¹³remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.

¹⁴Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.

¹⁵“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

¹⁶when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife.

¹⁷He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him two shares of his estate, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn.

¹⁸“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him,

¹⁹his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown.

²⁰They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’

²¹Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

²²“If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

²³you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.

²Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

³In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements of the world.

⁴When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁵to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”

⁷So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

⁸But in the past, since you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods.

⁹But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elements? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

¹⁰You are observing special days, months, seasons, and years.

¹¹I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

¹²I beg you, brothers and sisters: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me;

¹³you know that previously I preached the gospel to you because of a weakness of the flesh.

¹⁴You did not despise or reject me though my physical condition was a trial for you. On the contrary, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself.

¹⁵Where, then, is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶So then, have I become your enemy because I told you the truth?

¹⁷They court you eagerly, but not for good. They want to exclude you from me, so that you would pursue them.

¹⁸But it is always good to be pursued in a good manner — and not just when I am with you.

¹⁹My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you.

²⁰I would like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman.

²³But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise.

²⁴These things are being taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery — this is Hagar.

²⁵Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

²⁷For it is written, Rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth. Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate woman will be many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.

²⁸Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”

³¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.

¹What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life —

²that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us  —

³what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

⁶If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

⁷If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

¹Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

²Everything is the same for everyone: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live; after that they go to the dead.

⁴But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.

⁸Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head.

⁹Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

¹¹Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.

¹²For certainly no one knows his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them.

¹³I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me:

¹⁴There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.

¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

¹⁷The calm words of the wise are heeded more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much good.

¹For the choir director: on stringed instruments. Of David. [1] God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer.

²I call to you from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to a rock that is high above me,

³for you have been a refuge for me, a strong tower in the face of the enemy.

⁴I will dwell in your tent forever and take refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

⁵God, you have heard my vows; you have given a heritage to those who fear your name.

⁶Add days to the king’s life; may his years span many generations.

⁷May he sit enthroned before God forever. Appoint faithful love and truth to guard him.

⁸Then I will continually sing of your name, fulfilling my vows day by day.

¹Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.

²A king’s terrible wrath is like the roaring of a lion; anyone who provokes him endangers himself.

³Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.

⁵Counsel in a person’s heart is deep water; but a person of understanding draws it out.

⁶Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person?

⁷A righteous person acts with integrity; his children who come after him will be happy.

⁸A king sitting on a throne to judge separates out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and varying measures  — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions — by whether his behavior is pure and upright.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD made them both.

¹³Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.

¹⁴“It’s worthless, it’s worthless!” the buyer says, but after he is on his way, he gloats.

¹⁵There is gold and a multitude of jewels, but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Finalize plans with counsel, and wage war with sound guidance.

¹⁹The one who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid someone with a big mouth.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother —  his lamp will go out in deep darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained prematurely will not be blessed ultimately.

²²Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and he will rescue you.

²³Differing weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are unfair.

²⁴Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly and later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life, searching the innermost parts.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness guard a king; through loyalty he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.

³⁰Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

¹At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion.

²So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, at the festival.

³All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.

⁴The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent.

⁵King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many.

⁶The priests brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim.

⁷For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.

⁸The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are still there today.

⁹Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the LORD’s temple,

¹¹and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

¹²Then Solomon said: The LORD said that he would dwell in total darkness.

¹³I have indeed built an exalted temple for you, a place for your dwelling forever.

¹⁴The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing.

¹⁵He said: Blessed be the LORD God of Israel! He spoke directly to my father David, and he has fulfilled the promise by his power. He said,

¹⁶“Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that my name would be there. But I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.”

¹⁷My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁸But the LORD said to my father David, “Since your heart was set on building a temple for my name, you have done well to have this desire.

¹⁹Yet you are not the one to build it; instead, your son, your own offspring, will build it for my name.”

²⁰The LORD has fulfilled what he promised. I have taken the place of my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

²¹I have provided a place there for the ark, where the LORD’s covenant is that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

²³He said: LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below, who keeps the gracious covenant with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

²⁴You have kept what you promised to your servant, my father David. You spoke directly to him and you fulfilled your promise by your power as it is today.

²⁵Therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised to your servant, my father David: You will never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take care to walk before me as you have walked before me.

²⁶Now LORD God of Israel, please confirm what you promised to your servant, my father David.

²⁷But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built.

²⁸Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition, LORD my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today,

²⁹so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where you said, “My name will be there,” and so that you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

³⁰Hear the petition of your servant and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven. May you hear and forgive.

³¹When a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before your altar in this temple,

³²may you hear in heaven and act. May you judge your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

³³When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and praise your name, and they pray and plead with you for mercy in this temple,

³⁴may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. May you restore them to the land you gave their ancestors.

³⁵When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their sins because you are afflicting them,

³⁶may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, so that you may teach them the good way they should walk in. May you send rain on your land that you gave your people for an inheritance.

³⁷When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness,

³⁸every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have — they each know their own affliction  — as they spread out their hands toward this temple,

³⁹may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, for you alone know every human heart,

⁴⁰so that they may fear you all the days they live on the land you gave our ancestors.

⁴¹Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name —

⁴²for they will hear of your great name, strong hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple —

⁴³may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks. Then all peoples of earth will know your name, to fear you as your people Israel do and to know that this temple I have built bears your name.

⁴⁴When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name,

⁴⁵may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶When they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin  — and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country  — whether distant or nearby —

⁴⁷and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition you in their captors’ land: “We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,”

⁴⁸and when they return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to you in the direction of their land that you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name,

⁴⁹may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.

⁵⁰May you forgive your people who sinned against you and all their rebellions against you, and may you grant them compassion before their captors, so that they may treat them compassionately.

⁵¹For they are your people and your inheritance; you brought them out of Egypt, out of the middle of an iron furnace.

⁵²May your eyes be open to your servant’s petition and to the petition of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you.

⁵³For you, Lord GOD, have set them apart as your inheritance from all peoples of the earth, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.

⁵⁴When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the LORD, with his hands spread out toward heaven,

⁵⁵and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:

⁵⁶“Blessed be the LORD! He has given rest to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed.

⁵⁷May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us

⁵⁸so that he causes us to be devoted to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors.

⁵⁹May my words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near the LORD our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.

⁶⁰May all the peoples of the earth know that the LORD is God. There is no other!

⁶¹Be wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”

⁶²The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the LORD’s presence.

⁶³Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the LORD’s temple.

⁶⁴On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the LORD’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

⁶⁵Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt  — observed the festival at that time in the presence of the LORD our God, seven days, and seven more days — fourteen days.

⁶⁶On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homes rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the LORD had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

¹This is the word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:

²“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:

³‘You have said, “Woe is me, because the LORD has added misery to my pain! I am worn out with groaning and have found no rest.”’

⁴“This is what you are to say to him: ‘This is what the LORD says: “What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot  — the whole land!

⁵But as for you, do you pursue great things for yourself? Stop pursuing! For I am about to bring disaster on everyone” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “but I will grant you your life like the spoils of war wherever you go.”’”

¹Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

²The chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed,

³asking for a favor against Paul, that Festus summon him to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him.

⁴Festus, however, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he said, “let those of you who have authority go down with me and accuse him, if he has done anything wrong.”

⁶When he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in.

⁷When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove.

⁸Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.”

⁹But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges?”

¹⁰Paul replied: “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well.

¹¹If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹²Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”

¹³Several days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid a courtesy call on Festus.

¹⁴Since they were staying there several days, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There’s a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix.

¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews presented their case and asked that he be condemned.

¹⁶I answered them that it is not the Roman custom to give someone up before the accused faces the accusers and has an opportunity for a defense against the charges.

¹⁷So when they had assembled here, I did not delay. The next day I took my seat at the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought in.

¹⁸The accusers stood up but brought no charge against him of the evils I was expecting.

¹⁹Instead they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man Paul claimed to be alive.

²⁰Since I was at a loss in a dispute over such things, I asked him if he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be held for trial by the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow you will hear him,” he replied.

²³So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium with the military commanders and prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.

²⁴Then Festus said: “King Agrippa and all men present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has appealed to me concerning him, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he should not live any longer.

²⁵I found that he had not done anything deserving of death, but when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

²⁶I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination is over, I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”