Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

³But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

⁵“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

⁶But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

⁷And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

⁸“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

⁹In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

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

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

¹³And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

¹⁴“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

¹⁶“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

¹⁷But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

¹⁸so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

¹⁹“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

²⁰but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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

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

²³But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

²⁵“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

²⁶Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

²⁷Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

²⁹and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

³⁰Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

³²For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

¹“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother.

²And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him.

³You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself.

⁴“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.

⁵“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.

⁶“If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young;

⁷you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸“When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.

⁹“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.

¹⁰“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.

¹²“You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.

¹³“If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her,

¹⁴and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’

¹⁵then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.

¹⁶And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her.

¹⁷Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him;

¹⁹and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

²⁰“But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman,

²¹then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

²²“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

²³“If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,

²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.

²⁵“But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.

²⁶But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter.

²⁷For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out,

²⁹then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.

³⁰“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s bed.

¹Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

²Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

³And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

⁴You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

⁵For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

⁷You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

⁸This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.

⁹A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

¹⁰I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.

¹¹And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

¹²I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

¹³For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

¹⁴For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

¹⁶I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

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

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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

²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

²⁴And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

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

¹My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

²And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

³Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

⁴He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

⁵But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

⁶He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

⁷Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

⁹He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.

¹⁰He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

¹³I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked 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 all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

¹⁷And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

¹⁸Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

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

²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

²⁴Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.

²⁷But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

²⁸And now, little children, abide in Him, 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 that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

¹Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.

²A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.

³Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, And he shows everyone that he is a fool.

⁴If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your post; For conciliation pacifies great offenses.

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

⁶Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place.

⁷I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.

⁸He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.

⁹He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.

¹⁰If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.

¹¹A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; The babbler is no different.

¹²The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, But the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;

¹³The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, And the end of his talk is raving madness.

¹⁴A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him?

¹⁵The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!

¹⁶Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes feast in the morning!

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

¹⁸Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry; But money answers everything.

²⁰Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.

¹To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. [1] Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation.

²He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

³How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.

⁴They only consult to cast him down from his high position; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, But they curse inwardly. Selah

⁵My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.

⁶He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.

⁷In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God.

⁸Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

⁹Surely men of low degree are a vapor, Men of high degree are a lie; If they are weighed on the scales, They are altogether lighter than vapor.

¹⁰Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.

¹¹God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God.

¹²Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.

¹The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.

³To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

⁶Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will destroy them, Because they refuse to do justice.

⁸The way of a guilty man is perverse; But as for the pure, his work is right.

⁹Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.

¹¹When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise; But when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

¹²The righteous God wisely considers the house of the wicked, Overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness.

¹³Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger, And a bribe behind the back, strong wrath.

¹⁵It is a joy for the just to do justice, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, And the unfaithful for the upright.

¹⁹Better to dwell in the wilderness, Than with a contentious and angry woman.

²⁰There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.

²¹He who follows righteousness and mercy Finds life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, And brings down the trusted stronghold.

²³Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.

²⁴A proud and haughty man— “Scoffer” is his name; He acts with arrogant pride.

²⁵The desire of the lazy man kills him, For his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶He covets greedily all day long, But the righteous gives and does not spare.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; How much more when he brings it with wicked intent!

²⁸A false witness shall perish, But the man who hears him will speak endlessly.

²⁹A wicked man hardens his face, But as for the upright, he establishes his way.

³⁰There is no wisdom or understanding Or counsel against the LORD.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the LORD.

¹And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do,

²that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

⁴Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,

⁵then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁶But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

⁸And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’

⁹Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

¹⁰Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house

¹¹(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

¹²Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.

¹³So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day.

¹⁴Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

¹⁵And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.)

¹⁷And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon,

¹⁸Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

¹⁹all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel—

²¹that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely— from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.

²²But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

²³Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

²⁴But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

²⁵Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the temple.

²⁶King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

²⁷Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

¹The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.

²Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

³“Order the buckler and shield, And draw near to battle!

⁴Harness the horses, And mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, Polish the spears, Put on the armor!

⁵Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, And did not look back, For fear was all around,” says the LORD.

⁶“Do not let the swift flee away, Nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

⁷“Who is this coming up like a flood, Whose waters move like the rivers?

⁸Egypt rises up like a flood, And its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’

⁹Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates.

¹¹“Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured.

¹²The nations have heard of your shame, And your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together.”

¹³The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.’

¹⁵Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand Because the LORD drove them away.

¹⁶He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people And to the land of our nativity From the oppressing sword.’

¹⁷They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’

¹⁸“As I live,” says the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts, “Surely as Tabor is among the mountains And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.

¹⁹O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, Prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.

²⁰“Egypt is a very pretty heifer, But destruction comes, it comes from the north.

²¹Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, For they also are turned back, They have fled away together. They did not stand, For the day of their calamity had come upon them, The time of their punishment.

²²Her noise shall go like a serpent, For they shall march with an army And come against her with axes, Like those who chop wood.

²³“They shall cut down her forest,” says the LORD, “Though it cannot be searched, Because they are innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers.

²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; She shall be delivered into the hand Of the people of the north.”

²⁵The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

²⁶And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the LORD.

²⁷“But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid.

²⁸Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the LORD, “For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself:

²“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews,

³especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

⁵They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.

⁷To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

⁸Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?

⁹“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

¹³at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.

¹⁷I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

¹⁸to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

²¹For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²²Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—

²³that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

²⁵But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.

²⁶For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.

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

²⁸Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

²⁹And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them;

³¹and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

³²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”