Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

²So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

³But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

⁶But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.

⁸Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

⁹“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.

¹⁰Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us today our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

¹⁴“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.

¹⁵But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

¹⁶“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

¹⁸so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

²³But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

²⁵“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

²⁶Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

²⁷Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying?

²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread.

²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.

³⁰If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith?

³¹So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’

³²For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

³⁴Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

¹“If you see your brother Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it; make sure you return it to your brother.

²If your brother does not live near you or you don’t know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him.

³Do the same for his donkey, his garment, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.

⁴If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen down on the road, do not ignore it; help him lift it up.

⁵“A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

⁶“If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, do not take the mother along with the young.

⁷You may take the young for yourself, but be sure to let the mother go free, so that you may prosper and live long.

⁸If you build a new house, make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.

⁹Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; otherwise, the entire harvest, both the crop you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.

¹⁰Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹Do not wear clothes made of both wool and linen.

¹²Make tassels on the four corners of the outer garment you wear.

¹³“If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her,

¹⁴and accuses her of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn’t find any evidence of her virginity,’

¹⁵the young woman’s father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the city gate.

¹⁶The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her.

¹⁷He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: “I didn’t find any evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth before the city elders.

¹⁸Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him.

¹⁹They will also fine him a hundred silver shekels and give them to the young woman’s father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman’s virginity is found,

²¹they will bring the woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from you.

²²“If a man is discovered having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the man who had sex with the woman and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her,

²⁴take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death — the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you.

²⁵But if the man encounters an engaged woman in the open country, and he seizes and rapes her, only the man who raped her must die.

²⁶Do nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.

²⁷When he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered,

²⁹the man who raped her is to give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰“A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not violate his father’s marriage bed.

¹For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

²Take note! I, Paul, am telling you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all.

³Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law.

⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

⁵For we eagerly await through the Spirit, by faith, the hope of righteousness.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

⁷You were running well. Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth?

⁸This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

⁹A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough.

¹⁰I myself am persuaded in the Lord you will not accept any other view. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty.

¹¹Now brothers and sisters, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

¹²I wish those who are disturbing you might also let themselves be mutilated!

¹³For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

¹⁶I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.

¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,

²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions,

²¹envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things — as I warned you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

²⁴Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

¹My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.

²He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

³This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.

⁴The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

⁵But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:

⁶The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.

⁸Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

⁹The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

¹⁰The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, little children, since your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁴I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, God’s word remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world.

¹⁷And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

²¹I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

²²Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.

²³No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

²⁴What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

²⁶I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²⁸So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

¹Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²A wise person’s heart goes to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left.

³Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense, and he shows everyone he is a fool.

⁴If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your post, for calmness puts great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:

⁶The fool is appointed to great heights, but the rich remain in lowly positions.

⁷I have seen slaves on horses, but princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸The one who digs a pit may fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

⁹The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them; the one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

¹²The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly, but the end of his speaking is evil madness;

¹⁴yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what will happen, and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

¹⁵The struggles of fools weary them, for they don’t know how to go to the city.

¹⁶Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time — for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁸Because of laziness the roof caves in, and because of negligent hands the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy, and money is the answer for everything.

²⁰Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry the message, and a winged creature may report the matter.

¹For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. A psalm of David. [1] I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

²He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.

³How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you attack as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

⁴They only plan to bring him down from his high position. They take pleasure in lying; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. Selah

⁵Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him.

⁶He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken.

⁷My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

⁸Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah

⁹Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.

¹⁰Place no trust in oppression, or false hope in robbery. If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.

¹¹God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: strength belongs to God,

¹²and faithful love belongs to you, LORD. For you repay each according to his works.

¹A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.

²All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs hearts.

³Doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart  — is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.

⁶Making a fortune through a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a pursuit of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to act justly.

⁸A guilty one’s conduct is crooked, but the behavior of the innocent is upright.

⁹Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

¹⁰A wicked person desires evil; he has no consideration for his neighbor.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the inexperienced become wiser; when one teaches a wise man, he acquires knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; he brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out and not be answered.

¹⁴A secret gift soothes anger, and a covert bribe, fierce rage.

¹⁵Justice executed is a joy to the righteous but a terror to those who practice iniquity.

¹⁶The person who strays from the way of prudence will come to rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

¹⁷The one who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.

¹⁸The wicked are a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous, for the upright.

¹⁹Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

²⁰Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a fool consumes them.

²¹The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down its secure fortress.

²³The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

²⁴The arrogant and proud person, named “Mocker,” acts with excessive arrogance.

²⁵A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶He is filled with craving all day long, but the righteous give and don’t hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of a wicked person is detestable — how much more so when he brings it with ulterior motives!

²⁸A lying witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak successfully.

²⁹A wicked person puts on a bold face, but the upright one considers his way.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel will prevail against the LORD.

³¹A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the LORD.

¹When Solomon finished building the temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,

²the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³The LORD said to him: I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.

⁴As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances,

⁵I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.

⁶If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands — my statutes that I have set before you — and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,

⁷I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for my name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

⁸Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff. They will say: Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?

⁹Then they will say: Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the LORD brought all this ruin on them.

¹⁰At the end of twenty years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the LORD’s temple and the royal palace  —

¹¹King Hiram of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish  — King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee.

¹²So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

¹³So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are still called today.

¹⁴Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds of gold.

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the LORD’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

¹⁷Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,

¹⁸Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,

¹⁹all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites —

²¹their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely  — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.

²²But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.

²³These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.

²⁴Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces.

²⁵Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them in the LORD’s presence. So he completed the temple.

²⁶King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.

²⁷With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants.

²⁸They went to Ophir and acquired gold there — sixteen tons  — and delivered it to Solomon.

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations:

²About Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim son of Josiah:

³Deploy small shields and large; approach for battle!

⁴Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish the lances; put on armor!

⁵Why have I seen this? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are crushed, they flee headlong, they never look back, terror is on every side! This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁶The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the bank of the Euphrates River, they stumble and fall.

⁷Who is this, rising like the Nile, with waters that churn like rivers?

⁸Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters churn like rivers. He boasts, “I will go up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities with their residents.”

⁹Rise up, you cavalry! Race furiously, you chariots! Let the warriors march out — Cush and Put, who are able to handle shields, and the men of Lud, who are able to handle and string the bow.

¹⁰That day belongs to the Lord, the GOD of Armies, a day of vengeance to avenge himself against his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satisfied; it will drink its fill of their blood, because it will be a sacrifice to the Lord, the GOD of Armies, in the northern land by the Euphrates River.

¹¹Go up to Gilead and get balm, Virgin Daughter Egypt! You have multiplied remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.

¹²The nations have heard of your dishonor, and your cries fill the earth, because warrior stumbles against warrior and together both of them have fallen.

¹³This is the word the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:

¹⁴Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol! Proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes! Say, “Take positions! Prepare yourself, for the sword devours all around you.”

¹⁵Why have your strong ones been swept away? Each has not stood, for the LORD has thrust him down.

¹⁶He continues to stumble. Indeed, each falls over the other. They say, “Get up! Let’s return to our people and to our native land, away from the oppressor’s sword.”

¹⁷There they will cry out, “Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he let the opportune moment pass.”

¹⁸As I live — this is the King’s declaration; the LORD of Armies is his name — the king of Babylon will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹Get your bags ready for exile, inhabitant of Daughter Egypt! For Memphis will become a desolation, uninhabited ruins.

²⁰Egypt is a beautiful young cow, but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.

²¹Even her mercenaries among her are like stall-fed calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee; they will not take their stand, for the day of their calamity is coming on them, the time of their punishment.

²²Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake, for the enemy will come with an army; with axes they will come against her like those who cut trees.

²³They will cut down her forest — this is the LORD’s declaration — though it is dense, for they are more numerous than locusts; they cannot be counted.

²⁴Daughter Egypt will be put to shame, handed over to a northern people.

²⁵The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “I am about to punish Amon, god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, and her kings — Pharaoh and those trusting in him.

²⁶I will hand them over to those who intend to take their lives  — to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited again as in ancient times.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

²⁷But you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid, and do not be discouraged, Israel, for without fail I will save you from far away, and your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.

²⁸And you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid — this is the LORD’s declaration — for I will be with you. I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have banished you, but I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”