Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.

²Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴Then Jesus told him, “See that you don’t tell anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him,

⁶“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”

⁷He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”

⁸“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

⁹For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.

¹¹I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.

¹⁴Jesus went into Peter’s house and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.

¹⁵So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him.

¹⁶When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick,

¹⁷so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.

¹⁸When Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea.

¹⁹A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

²¹“Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.”

²²But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

²³As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

²⁴Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves — but Jesus kept sleeping.

²⁵So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”

²⁶He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

²⁸When he had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

²⁹Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

³⁰A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding.

³¹“If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²“Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water.

³³Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed.

³⁴At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

¹“If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

²If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man’s wife,

³and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he dies,

⁴the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the LORD. You must not bring guilt on the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵“When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.

⁶“Do not take a pair of grindstones or even the upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a life as security.

⁷“If a man is discovered kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

⁸“Be careful with a person who has a case of serious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.

⁹Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.

¹⁰“When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security.

¹¹Stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you.

¹²If he is a poor man, do not sleep with the garment he has given as security.

¹³Be sure to return it to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the LORD your God.

¹⁴“Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the resident aliens in a town in your land.

¹⁵You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.

¹⁶“Fathers are not to be put to death for their children, and children are not to be put to death for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷Do not deny justice to a resident alien or fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s garment as security.

¹⁸Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.

¹⁹“When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

²⁰When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, do not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow.

²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow.

²²Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.

⁴For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

⁵He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

⁸that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the right time  — to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

¹¹In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will,

¹²so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.

¹³In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

¹⁴The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

¹⁶I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

²⁰He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens  —

²¹far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

¹⁰Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God — God remains in him and he in God.

¹⁶And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

¹So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;

²before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;

³on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,

⁴the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint.

⁵Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;

⁶before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well;

⁷and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”

⁹In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.

¹⁰The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately.

¹¹The sayings of the wise are like cattle prods, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.

¹²But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.

¹⁴For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] God, hear my voice when I am in anguish. Protect my life from the terror of the enemy.

²Hide me from the scheming of wicked people, from the mob of evildoers,

³who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim bitter words like arrows,

⁴shooting from concealed places at the blameless. They shoot at him suddenly and are not afraid.

⁵They adopt an evil plan; they talk about hiding traps and say, “Who will see them?”

⁶They devise crimes and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” The inner man and the heart are mysterious.

⁷But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly, they will be wounded.

⁸They will be made to stumble; their own tongues work against them. All who see them will shake their heads.

⁹Then everyone will fear and will tell about God’s work, for they will understand what he has done.

¹⁰The righteous one rejoices in the LORD and takes refuge in him; all those who are upright in heart will offer praise.

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite;

³don’t desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!

⁵As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

⁶Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food,

⁷for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong, and he will champion their cause against you.

¹²Apply yourself to discipline and listen to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold discipline from a youth; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with a rod, and you will rescue his life from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My innermost being will celebrate when your lips say what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead, always fear the LORD.

¹⁸For then you will have a future, and your hope will not be dashed.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course.

²⁰Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy — and do not sell — truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a wayward woman is a narrow well;

²⁸indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber and increases the number of unfaithful people.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.

³¹Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.

³⁴You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.”

¹King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women

²from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love.

³He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away.

⁴When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

⁵Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.

⁶Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the LORD.

⁷At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.

⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

⁹The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

¹⁰He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹Then the LORD said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

¹²However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand.

¹³Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”

¹⁴So the LORD raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom.

¹⁵Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.

¹⁶For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

¹⁷Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy.

¹⁸Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he be given food, and gave him land.

¹⁹Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes.

²⁰Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.

²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”

²²But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”

²³God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah

²⁴and gathered men to himself. He became leader of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus.

²⁵Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He reigned over Aram and loathed Israel.

²⁶Now Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,

²⁷and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David.

²⁸Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into twelve pieces,

³¹and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes,

³²but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.

³⁴“‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom from him but will let him be ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and my statutes.

³⁵I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you.

³⁶I will give one tribe to his son, so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.

³⁷I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel.

³⁸“‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.

³⁹I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.’”

⁴⁰Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death.

⁴¹The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events.

⁴²The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled forty years.

⁴³Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.

¹About Moab, this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo, because it is about to be destroyed; Kiriathaim will be put to shame; it will be taken captive. The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!

²There is no longer praise for Moab; they plan harm against her in Heshbon: Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood. Also, Madmen, you will be silenced; the sword will follow you.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim, “devastation and a crushing blow!”

⁴Moab will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.

⁵For on the Ascent to Luhith they will be weeping continually, and on the descent to Horonaim will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:

⁶Flee! Save your lives! Be like a juniper bush in the wilderness.

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures, you will be captured also. Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.

⁸The destroyer will move against every town; not one town will escape. The valley will perish, and the plain will be annihilated, as the LORD has said.

⁹Make Moab a salt marsh, for she will run away; her towns will become a desolation, without inhabitant.

¹⁰The one who does the LORD’s business deceitfully is cursed, and the one who withholds his sword from bloodshed is cursed.

¹¹Moab has been left quiet since his youth, settled like wine on its dregs. He hasn’t been poured from one container to another or gone into exile. So his taste has remained the same, and his aroma hasn’t changed.

¹²Therefore look, the days are coming  — this is the LORD’s declaration — when I will send pourers to him, who will pour him out. They will empty his containers and smash his jars.

¹³Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was put to shame because of Bethel that they trusted in.

¹⁴How can you say, “We are warriors — valiant men for battle”?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and its towns has come up, and the best of its young men have gone down to slaughter. This is the King’s declaration; the LORD of Armies is his name.

¹⁶Moab’s calamity is near at hand; his disaster is rushing swiftly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations, everyone who knows his name. Say, “How the mighty scepter is shattered, the glorious staff!”

¹⁸Come down from glory; sit on parched ground, resident of the daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.

¹⁹Stand by the highway and watch, resident of Aroer! Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping, “What happened?”

²⁰Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has come to the land of the plateau  — to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath,

²²Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim,

²³Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,

²⁴Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near.

²⁵Moab’s horn is chopped off; his arm is shattered.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the LORD. Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.

²⁷Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.”

²⁸Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs, residents of Moab! Be like a dove that nests inside the mouth of a cave.

²⁹We have heard of Moab’s pride, great pride, indeed — his insolence, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart.

³⁰I know his outburst. This is the LORD’s declaration. It is empty. His boast is empty.

³¹Therefore, I will wail over Moab. I will cry out for Moab, all of it; he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

³²I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah, with more than the weeping for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they have reached to the sea and to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

³³Gladness and celebration are taken from the fertile field and from the land of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses; no one will tread with shouts of joy. The shouting is not a shout of joy.

³⁴“There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they make their voices heard as far as Jahaz  — from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah — because even the Waters of Nimrim have become desolate.

³⁵In Moab, I will stop” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.

³⁶Therefore, my heart moans like flutes for Moab, and my heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.

³⁷Indeed, every head is bald and every beard is chopped short. On every hand is a gash and sackcloth around the waist.

³⁸On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁹“How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him.”

⁴⁰For this is what the LORD says: Look! He will swoop down like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab.

⁴¹The towns have been captured, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed as a people because he has exalted himself against the LORD.

⁴³Panic, pit, and trap await you, resident of Moab. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴⁴He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit, and he who climbs from the pit will be captured in the trap, for I will bring against Moab the year of their punishment. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴⁵Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon’s shadow because fire has come out from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It will devour Moab’s forehead and the skull of the noisemakers.

⁴⁶Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished because your sons have been taken captive and your daughters have gone into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet, I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the last days. This is the LORD’s declaration. The judgment on Moab ends here.

¹Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

³As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

²⁰For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah

²⁶when he said, Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

²⁷For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,

³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.