Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

³And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

⁵When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,

⁶“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”

⁷And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

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

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

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

¹¹I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

¹² while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

¹⁴And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.

¹⁵He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.

¹⁶That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

¹⁹And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

²¹Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

²²And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

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

²⁴And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

²⁵And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”

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

²⁷And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

²⁸And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.

²⁹And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

³⁰Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.

³¹And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”

³²And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

³³The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

³⁴And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

¹“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,

²and if she goes and becomes another man's wife,

³and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife,

⁴then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

⁵“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.

⁶“No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

⁷“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁸“Take care, in a case of leprous disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

⁹Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰“When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge.

¹¹You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.

¹²And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge.

¹³You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.

¹⁴“You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.

¹⁵You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.

¹⁶“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge,

¹⁸but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

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

²⁰When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.

²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.

²²You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

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

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

⁵he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

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

⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

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

¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

⁴Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

¹⁶So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

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

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

¹Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

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

³in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,

⁴and the doors on the street are shut — when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low —

⁵they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets —

⁶before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,

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

⁸Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

⁹Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

¹⁰The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

¹²My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

¹Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

²Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,

³who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,

⁴shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

⁵They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see them?”

⁶They search out injustice, saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.” For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.

⁷But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly.

⁸They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads.

⁹Then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done.

¹⁰Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!

¹When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.

⁴Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.

⁵When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,

⁷for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.

¹⁰Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.

¹⁶My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

¹⁸Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

²⁰Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,

²¹for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.

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

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁸She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.

³⁴You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.

³⁵“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

²from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

³He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

⁴For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done.

⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

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

¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.

¹¹Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.

¹²Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

¹⁴And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.

¹⁵For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom

¹⁶(for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom).

¹⁷But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child.

¹⁸They set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land.

¹⁹And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.

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

²²But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

²³God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus.

²⁵He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

²⁶Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king.

²⁷And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father.

²⁸The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country.

³⁰Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes

³²(but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),

³³because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.

³⁴Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.

³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes.

³⁶Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.

³⁷And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

³⁸And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’”

⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

⁴¹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

⁴²And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

⁴³And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

¹Concerning Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; the fortress is put to shame and broken down;

²the renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they planned disaster against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’ You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.

³“A voice! A cry from Horonaim, ‘Desolation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have made a cry.

⁵For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressed cry of destruction.

⁶Flee! Save yourselves! You will be like a juniper in the desert!

⁷For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials.

⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.

⁹“Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away; her cities shall become a desolation, with no inhabitant in them.

¹⁰“Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces.

¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How do you say, ‘We are heroes and mighty men of war’?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up, and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction hastens swiftly.

¹⁷Grieve for him, all you who are around him, and all who know his name; say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff.’

¹⁸“Come down from your glory, and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon! For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you; he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.

²¹“Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath,

²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

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

²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision.

²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

²⁸“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab! Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab — he is very proud — of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his insolence, declares the LORD; his boasts are false, his deeds are false.

³¹Therefore I wail for Moab; I cry out for all Moab; for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.

³²More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches passed over the sea, reached to the Sea of Jazer; on your summer fruits and your grapes the destroyer has fallen.

³³Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.

³⁴“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate.

³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god.

³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

³⁷“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD.

³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

⁴⁰For thus says the LORD: “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab;

⁴¹the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD.

⁴³Terror, pit, and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares the LORD.

⁴⁴He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength, for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD.” Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

¹After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.

³When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

⁴When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him.

⁹And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.

¹⁰They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.

¹³And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar — though I had no charge to bring against my nation.

²⁰For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.”

²¹And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.

²²But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

²³When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

²⁴And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.

²⁵And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

²⁶“‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

²⁷For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and 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

³⁰He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,

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