Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him.

²And a man with leprosy came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴And Jesus *said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present theoffering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him,

⁶and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.”

⁷Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

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

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

¹⁰Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faithwith anyone in Israel.

¹¹And I say to you that many will come from east and west, andrecline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;

¹²but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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

¹⁴When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

¹⁵And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him.

¹⁶Now when evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.

¹⁷This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR ILLNESSES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.

¹⁹Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

²¹And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

²³When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

²⁴And behold, a violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.

²⁵And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”

²⁶He *said to them, “Why are youafraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

²⁷The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

²⁸And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

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

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

³¹And the demons begged Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²And He said to them, “Go!” And 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.

³³And the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

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

²and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,

³and the latter husband turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand, and sends her away from his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies,

⁴then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to 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 on the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵“When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army, nor be assigned any duty; he shall be free at home for one year and shall make his wife whom he has taken happy.

⁶“No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s means of life as a pledge.

⁷“If someone is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he treats him as merchandise and sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

⁸“Be careful about an infestation of leprosy, that you are very attentive and act in accordance with everything that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, you shall be careful to act.

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 kind, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.

¹¹You shall stand outside, and the person to whom you are making the loan shall bring the pledge outside to you.

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

¹³When the sun goes down you shall certainly return the pledge to him, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.

¹⁴“You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your strangers who are in your land in your towns.

¹⁵You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets—for he is poor and sets his heart on it—so that he does not cry out against you to the LORD, and it becomes a sin in you.

¹⁶“Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin alone.

¹⁷“You shall not pervert the justice due a stranger or an orphan, nor seize a widow’s garment as a pledge.

¹⁸But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong to the stranger, the orphan, and to the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

²⁰When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and for the widow.

²¹“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.

²²And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at 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 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved.

⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace

⁸which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

⁹He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him,

¹⁰regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

¹¹In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will,

¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

¹³In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise,

¹⁴who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,

¹⁶do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

²⁰which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him 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, because 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 have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

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

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

⁷Beloved, let’s love one another; for 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.

⁹By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we 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 remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit.

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

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

¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

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

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

¹⁹We love, because He first loved us.

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

²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

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

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

³on the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and strong men are bent over, the grinders stop working because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim;

⁴and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly.

⁵Furthermore, people are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while the mourners move around in the street.

⁶Remember your Creator before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;

⁷then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

⁸“Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher, “all is futility!”

⁹In addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

¹⁰The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, and masters of these collections are like driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.

¹²But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive study is wearying to the body.

¹³The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

¹⁴For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

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

²Hide me from the secret discussion of evildoers, From the restlessness of the workers of injustice,

³Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrows,

⁴To shoot from concealment at the innocent; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear.

⁵They make firm for themselves an evil purpose; They talk of setting snares secretly; They say, “Who can see them?”

⁶They devise injustices, saying, “We are ready with a well-conceived plot”; For the inward thought and the heart of a person are deep.

⁷But God will shoot an arrow at them; Suddenly they will be wounded.

⁸So they will make him stumble; Their own tongue is against them; All who see them will shake their heads.

⁹Then all people will fear, And they will declare the work of God, And will consider what He has done.

¹⁰The righteous person will be glad in the LORD and take refuge in Him; And all the upright in heart will boast.

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

²And put a knife to your throat If you are a person of great appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.

⁴Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; Stop dwelling on it.

⁵When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

⁶Do not eat the bread of a selfish person; Or desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten And waste your compliments.

⁹Do not speak to be heard by a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge.

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

¹⁴You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad,

¹⁶And my innermost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.

¹⁸Certainly there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.

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

²⁰Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

²²Listen to your father, who fathered you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

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

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

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

²⁶Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, And a strange woman is a narrow well.

²⁸Certainly she lurks as a robber, And increases the treacherous among mankind.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.

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

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

³³Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will say perverse things.

³⁴And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When will I awake? I will seek 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 of which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

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

⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

⁵For Solomon became a follower of Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.

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

⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon.

⁸He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹Now 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 regarding this thing, that he was not to follow other gods; but he did not comply with what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant.

¹²However, I will not do it in your days, only for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son.

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

¹⁴Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom.

¹⁵For it came about, when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed in battle, and had struck and killed every male in Edom

¹⁶(for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom),

¹⁷that Hadad fled to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy.

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

¹⁹Now 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 gave birth to his son Genubath, 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 lay down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, so that I may go to my own country.”

²²However, Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

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

²⁴And he gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, after David killed those of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed there, and reigned in Damascus.

²⁵So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad inflicted; and he felt disgust for Israel and reigned over Aram.

²⁶Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.

²⁷Now this was the reason why he rebelled against the king: Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of his father David.

²⁸Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field.

³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and 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 which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel),

³³because they have abandoned Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David 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 My servant David whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes;

³⁵but I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you; that is, ten tribes.

³⁶But to his son I will give one tribe, so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name.

³⁷However I will take you, and you shall reign over all that you desire, and you shall be king over Israel.

³⁸Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹So I will oppress the descendants of David for this, but not always.’ ”

⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam set out and fled to Egypt to Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

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

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

⁴³Then Solomon lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

¹Concerning Moab. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed; Kiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured; The high stronghold has been put to shame and shattered.

²There is no longer praise for Moab; In Heshbon they have devised disaster against her: ‘Come and let’s cut her off from being a nation!’ You too, Madmen, will be silenced; The sword will follow you.

³The sound of an outcry from Horonaim, ‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is broken, Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

⁵For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith With continual weeping; For at the descent of Horonaim They have heard the anguished cry of destruction.

⁶Flee, save yourselves, So that you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures, You yourself will also be captured; And Chemosh will go off into exile Together with his priests and his leaders.

⁸A destroyer will come to every city, So that no city will escape; The valley also will be ruined And the plateau will be destroyed, As the LORD has said.

⁹Give wings to Moab, For she will flee away; And her cities will become a desolation, Without inhabitants in them.

¹⁰Cursed is the one who does the LORD’S work negligently, And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease since his youth; He has also been peaceful, like wine on its dregs, And he has not been poured from vessel to vessel, Nor has he gone into exile. Therefore he retains his flavor, And his aroma has not changed.

¹²Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will pour out his vessels and smash his jars.

¹³And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴How can you say, ‘We are warriors, And men competent for battle’?

¹⁵Moab has been destroyed and men have gone up to his cities; His choicest young men have also gone down to the slaughter,” Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of armies.

¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will soon come, And his catastrophe has hurried quickly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you who live around him, And all of you who know his name; Say, ‘How the mighty scepter has been broken, A staff of splendor!’

¹⁸Come down from your glory And sit on the parched ground, O daughter living in Dibon, For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, He has ruined your strongholds.

¹⁹Stand by the road and keep watch, You inhabitant of Aroer; Ask him who flees and her who escapes And say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab has been put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out; Declare by the Arnon That Moab has been destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, Jahzah, and against Mephaath,

²²against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

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

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

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

²⁶“Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.

²⁷Now was Israel not a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For whenever you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.

²⁸Leave the cities and live among the rocky cliffs, You inhabitants of Moab, And be like a dove that nests Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud— Of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his self-exaltation.

³⁰I know his fury,” declares the LORD, “But it is futile; His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

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

³²More than the weeping for Jazer I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your tendrils stretched across the sea, They reached to the sea of Jazer; Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest The destroyer has fallen.

³³So joy and rejoicing are removed From the fruitful field, and from the land of Moab. And I have eliminated the wine from the wine presses; No one will tread them with shouting, The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

³⁴From the outcry at Heshbon to Elealeh, to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.

³⁵And I will put an end to Moab,” declares the LORD, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

³⁶“Therefore My heart makes a sound like flutes for Moab; My heart also makes a sound like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.

³⁷For every head is shaved bald, and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands, and sackcloth around the waists.

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in its public squares there is mourning everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel,” declares the LORD.

³⁹“How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him.”

⁴⁰For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, one will fly swiftly like an eagle And spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹Kerioth has been captured And the strongholds have been seized, So the hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed from being a people Because he has become arrogant toward the LORD.

⁴³Terror, pit, and snare are coming upon you, Inhabitant of Moab,” declares the LORD.

⁴⁴“The one who flees from the terror Will fall into the pit, And the one who climbs up out of the pit Will be caught in the snare; For I will bring upon her, upon Moab, The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon The fugitives stand without strength; For a fire has spread out from Heshbon And a flame from the midst of Sihon, And it has devoured the forehead of Moab And the scalps of the loud revelers.

⁴⁶Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; For your sons have been taken away captive, And your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab In the latter days,” declares the LORD. This is the extent of the judgment on Moab.

¹When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta.

²The natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for they kindled a fire and took us all in because of the rain that had started and because of the cold.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶Now they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighboring parts of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us warmly for three days.

⁸And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with a recurring fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after he prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him.

⁹After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and being cured.

¹⁰They also showed us many honors, and when we were about to set sail, they supplied us with everything we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

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

¹³From there we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind came up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some brothers and sisters, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and that is how we came to Rome.

¹⁵And from there the brothers and sisters, when they heard about us, came as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

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

¹⁷After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.

¹⁸And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there were no grounds for putting me to death.

¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation.

²⁰For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, since I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.”

²¹They said to him, “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor has any of the brothers come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.

²²But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for regarding this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.”

²³When they had set a day for Paul, people came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

²⁴Some were being persuaded by the things said by Paul, but others would not believe.

²⁵And when they disagreed with one another, they began leaving after Paul said one parting statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers,

²⁶saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, “YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, AND WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, AND WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

²⁷FOR THE HEARTS OF THIS PEOPLE HAVE BECOME INSENSITIVE, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY HARDLY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, 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 also listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Now Paul stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and welcomed all who came to him,

³¹preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.