Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him,

²and he began to teach them.

³“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

⁴God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

⁶God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

⁷God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

⁸God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

⁹God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

¹⁰God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

¹¹“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

¹²Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

¹⁵No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

¹⁷“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.

¹⁹So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

²⁰“But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

²¹“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’

²²But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

²³“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you,

²⁴leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

²⁵“When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison.

²⁶And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’

²⁸But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹So if your eye — even your good eye — causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³⁰And if your hand — even your stronger hand — causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³¹“You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’

³²But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

³³“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.’

³⁴But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne.

³⁵And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King.

³⁶Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black.

³⁷Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

³⁸“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

³⁹But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

⁴⁰If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.

⁴¹If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.

⁴²Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

⁴³“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.

⁴⁴But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

⁴⁵In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

⁴⁶If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.

⁴⁷If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.

⁴⁸But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

¹“When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder.

²In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.

³When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow.

⁴They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck.

⁵Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.

⁶“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken.

⁷Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen.

⁸O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood.

⁹By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.

¹⁰“Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives.

¹¹And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her.

¹²If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails,

¹³and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife.

¹⁴But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.

¹⁵“Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love.

¹⁶When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son.

¹⁷He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.

¹⁸“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him.

¹⁹In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate.

²⁰The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’

²¹Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.

²²“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,

²³the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession.

¹Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.

²They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.

³And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

⁴But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

⁵God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

⁶And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

⁷Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

⁸Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.

⁹So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?

¹⁰You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.

¹¹I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.

¹²Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles — free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.

¹³Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.

¹⁴But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.

¹⁵Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.

¹⁶Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?

¹⁷Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them.

¹⁸If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.

¹⁹Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.

²⁰I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you.

²¹Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

²²The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.

²³The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.

²⁴These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.

²⁵And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law.

²⁶But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.

²⁷As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”

²⁸And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.

²⁹But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.

³⁰But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

³¹So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

¹We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.

²This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.

³We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

⁴We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

⁵This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

⁶So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

⁷But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

⁹But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

¹This, too, I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God’s hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor.

²The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad, ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don’t.

³It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate. Already twisted by evil, people choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway.

⁴There is hope only for the living. As they say, “It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”

⁵The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.

⁶Whatever they did in their lifetime — loving, hating, envying — is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.

⁷So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!

⁸Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!

⁹Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.

¹⁰Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

¹¹I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

¹²People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.

¹³Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works.

¹⁴There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it.

¹⁵A poor, wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought to thank him.

¹⁶So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.

¹⁷Better to hear the quiet words of a wise person than the shouts of a foolish king.

¹⁸Better to have wisdom than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.

¹O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer!

²From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety,

³for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.

⁴Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings! Interlude

⁵For you have heard my vows, O God. You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name.

⁶Add many years to the life of the king! May his years span the generations!

⁷May he reign under God’s protection forever. May your unfailing love and faithfulness watch over him.

⁸Then I will sing praises to your name forever as I fulfill my vows each day.

¹Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

²The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar; to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

³Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.

⁴Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

⁵Though good advice lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?

⁷The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.

⁸When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence, distinguishing the bad from the good.

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

¹⁰False weights and unequal measures — the LORD detests double standards of every kind.

¹¹Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²Ears to hear and eyes to see — both are gifts from the LORD.

¹³If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

¹⁴The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,” then brags about getting a bargain!

¹⁵Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.

¹⁶Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

¹⁷Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth.

¹⁸Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.

¹⁹A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers.

²⁰If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.

²¹An inheritance obtained too early in life is not a blessing in the end.

²²Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the LORD to handle the matter.

²³The LORD detests double standards; he is not pleased by dishonest scales.

²⁴The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

²⁵Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

²⁶A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat, then runs his threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.

²⁸Unfailing love and faithfulness protect the king; his throne is made secure through love.

²⁹The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

³⁰Physical punishment cleanses away evil; such discipline purifies the heart.

¹Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes — the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites. They were to bring the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion.

²So all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn in the month of Ethanim.

³When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark.

⁴The priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the LORD along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it.

⁵There, before the Ark, King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!

⁶Then the priests carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple — the Most Holy Place — and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

⁷The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.

⁸These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to this day.

⁹Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.

¹⁰When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD.

¹¹The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of the LORD.

¹²Then Solomon prayed, “O LORD, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.

¹³Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever! ”

¹⁴Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing:

¹⁵“Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father,

¹⁶‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. But I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’”

¹⁷Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁸But the LORD told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good,

¹⁹but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’

²⁰“And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

²¹And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

²²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel. He lifted his hands toward heaven,

²³and he prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.

²⁴You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.

²⁵“And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow me as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

²⁶Now, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David, my father.

²⁷“But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!

²⁸Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today.

²⁹May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.

³⁰May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

³¹“If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar in this Temple,

³²then hear from heaven and judge between your servants — the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.

³³“If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple,

³⁴then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave their ancestors.

³⁵“If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,

³⁶then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

³⁷“If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns — whatever disaster or disease there is —

³⁸and if your people Israel pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward this Temple,

³⁹then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart.

⁴⁰Then they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

⁴¹“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name,

⁴²for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple,

⁴³then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.

⁴⁴“If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the LORD by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name,

⁴⁵then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶“If they sin against you — and who has never sinned? — you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near.

⁴⁷But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’

⁴⁸If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors — toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name —

⁴⁹then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause.

⁵⁰Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them,

⁵¹for they are your people — your special possession — whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt.

⁵²“May your eyes be open to my requests and to the requests of your people Israel. May you hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you.

⁵³For when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign LORD, you told your servant Moses that you had set Israel apart from all the nations of the earth to be your own special possession.”

⁵⁴When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven.

⁵⁵He stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire congregation of Israel:

⁵⁶“Praise the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses.

⁵⁷May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us.

⁵⁸May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors.

⁵⁹And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the LORD be before him constantly, day and night, so that the LORD our God may give justice to me and to his people Israel, according to each day’s needs.

⁶⁰Then people all over the earth will know that the LORD alone is God and there is no other.

⁶¹And may you be completely faithful to the LORD our God. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.”

⁶²Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the LORD.

⁶³Solomon offered to the LORD a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the LORD.

⁶⁴That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the LORD’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the LORD’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the LORD our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all — seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.

⁶⁶After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the LORD had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.

¹The prophet Jeremiah gave a message to Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, after Baruch had written down everything Jeremiah had dictated to him. He said,

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

³You have said, ‘I am overwhelmed with trouble! Haven’t I had enough pain already? And now the LORD has added more! I am worn out from sighing and can find no rest.’

⁴“Baruch, this is what the LORD says: ‘I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted.

⁵Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it! I will bring great disaster upon all these people; but I will give you your life as a reward wherever you go. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

¹Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem,

²where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders met with him and made their accusations against Paul.

³They asked Festus as a favor to transfer Paul to Jerusalem (planning to ambush and kill him on the way).

⁴But Festus replied that Paul was at Caesarea and he himself would be returning there soon.

⁵So he said, “Those of you in authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong, you can make your accusations.”

⁶About eight or ten days later Festus returned to Caesarea, and on the following day he took his seat in court and ordered that Paul be brought in.

⁷When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations they couldn’t prove.

⁸Paul denied the charges. “I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,” he said.

⁹Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?”

¹⁰But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews.

¹¹If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹²Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”

¹³A few days later King Agrippa arrived with his sister, Bernice, to pay their respects to Festus.

¹⁴During their stay of several days, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. “There is a prisoner here,” he told him, “whose case was left for me by Felix.

¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him.

¹⁶I pointed out to them that Roman law does not convict people without a trial. They must be given an opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves.

¹⁷“When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn’t delay. I called the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in.

¹⁸But the accusations made against him weren’t any of the crimes I expected.

¹⁹Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive.

²⁰I was at a loss to know how to investigate these things, so I asked him whether he would be willing to stand trial on these charges in Jerusalem.

²¹But Paul appealed to have his case decided by the emperor. So I ordered that he be held in custody until I could arrange to send him to Caesar.”

²²“I’d like to hear the man myself,” Agrippa said. And Festus replied, “You will — tomorrow!”

²³So the next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp, accompanied by military officers and prominent men of the city. Festus ordered that Paul be brought in.

²⁴Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are here, this is the man whose death is demanded by all the Jews, both here and in Jerusalem.

²⁵But in my opinion he has done nothing deserving death. However, since he appealed his case to the emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.

²⁶“But what shall I write the emperor? For there is no clear charge against him. So I have brought him before all of you, and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we examine him, I might have something to write.

²⁷For it makes no sense to send a prisoner to the emperor without specifying the charges against him!”