Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside.

²Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

³Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

⁴Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

⁵When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him,

⁶“Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

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

⁸But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.

⁹I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!

¹¹And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world — from east and west — and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.

¹²But many Israelites — those for whom the Kingdom was prepared — will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

¹⁴When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever.

¹⁵But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.

¹⁶That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.

¹⁷This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”

¹⁸When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.

¹⁹Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

²¹Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. ”

²³Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.

²⁴Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

²⁵The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

²⁷The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

²⁸When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.

²⁹They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”

³⁰There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance.

³¹So the demons begged, “If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”

³²“All right, go!” Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

³³The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men.

³⁴Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone.

¹“Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house.

²When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man.

³But if the second husband also turns against her, writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away, or if he dies,

⁴the first husband may not marry her again, for she has been defiled. That would be detestable to the LORD. You must not bring guilt upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession.

⁵“A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married.

⁶“It is wrong to take a set of millstones, or even just the upper millstone, as security for a loan, for the owner uses it to make a living.

⁷“If anyone kidnaps a fellow Israelite and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. In this way, you will purge the evil from among you.

⁸“In all cases involving serious skin diseases, be careful to follow the instructions of the Levitical priests; obey all the commands I have given them.

⁹Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.

¹⁰“If you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to pick up the item he is giving as security.

¹¹You must wait outside while he goes in and brings it out to you.

¹²If your neighbor is poor and gives you his cloak as security for a loan, do not keep the cloak overnight.

¹³Return the cloak to its owner by sunset so he can stay warm through the night and bless you, and the LORD your God will count you as righteous.

¹⁴“Never take advantage of poor and destitute laborers, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in your towns.

¹⁵You must pay them their wages each day before sunset because they are poor and are counting on it. If you don’t, they might cry out to the LORD against you, and it would be counted against you as sin.

¹⁶“Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.

¹⁷“True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment as security for her debt.

¹⁸Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God redeemed you from your slavery. That is why I have given you this command.

¹⁹“When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

²⁰When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.

²¹When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.

²²Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.

¹This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

²May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

³All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

⁴Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

⁵God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

⁶So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

⁷He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

⁸He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ — which is to fulfill his own good plan.

¹⁰And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ — everything in heaven and on earth.

¹¹Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

¹²God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.

¹³And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.

¹⁴The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

¹⁵Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere,

¹⁶I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,

¹⁷asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

¹⁸I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called — his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

¹⁹I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power

²⁰that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.

²¹Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else — not only in this world but also in the world to come.

²²God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

²³And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

¹Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

²This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.

³But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

⁴But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

⁵Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.

⁶But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

⁷Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

⁸But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

¹⁰This is real love — not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

¹²No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

¹³And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

¹⁴Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

¹⁶We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

¹⁷And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

¹⁸Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

¹⁹We love each other because he loved us first.

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

²¹And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

¹Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”

²Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.

³Remember him before your legs — the guards of your house — start to tremble; and before your shoulders — the strong men — stoop. Remember him before your teeth — your few remaining servants — stop grinding; and before your eyes — the women looking through the windows — see dimly.

⁴Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.

⁵Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.

⁶Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.

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

⁸“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”

⁹Keep this in mind: The Teacher was considered wise, and he taught the people everything he knew. He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them.

¹⁰The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.

¹¹The words of the wise are like cattle prods — painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.

¹²But, my child, let me give you some further advice: Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out.

¹³That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

¹⁴God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

¹O God, listen to my complaint. Protect my life from my enemies’ threats.

²Hide me from the plots of this evil mob, from this gang of wrongdoers.

³They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows.

⁴They shoot from ambush at the innocent, attacking suddenly and fearlessly.

⁵They encourage each other to do evil and plan how to set their traps in secret. “Who will ever notice?” they ask.

⁶As they plot their crimes, they say, “We have devised the perfect plan!” Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.

⁷But God himself will shoot them with his arrows, suddenly striking them down.

⁸Their own tongues will ruin them, and all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.

⁹Then everyone will be afraid; they will proclaim the mighty acts of God and realize all the amazing things he does.

¹⁰The godly will rejoice in the LORD and find shelter in him. And those who do what is right will praise him.

¹While dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you.

²If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat;

³don’t desire all the delicacies, for he might be trying to trick you.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.

⁵In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

⁶Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies.

⁷They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.

⁸You will throw up what little you’ve eaten, and your compliments will be wasted.

⁹Don’t waste your breath on fools, for they will despise the wisest advice.

¹⁰Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers; don’t take the land of defenseless orphans.

¹¹For their Redeemer is strong; he himself will bring their charges against you.

¹²Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t fail to discipline your children. The rod of punishment won’t kill them.

¹⁴Physical discipline may well save them from death.

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice!

¹⁶Everything in me will celebrate when you speak what is right.

¹⁷Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD.

¹⁸You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.

¹⁹My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons,

²¹for they are on their way to poverty, and too much sleep clothes them in rags.

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

²³Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.

²⁴The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise.

²⁵So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.

²⁶O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.

²⁷A prostitute is a dangerous trap; a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well.

²⁸She hides and waits like a robber, eager to make more men unfaithful.

²⁹Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks.

³¹Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.

³²For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings like a viper.

³³You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things.

³⁴You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast.

³⁵And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can look for another drink?”

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites.

²The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.

³He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD.

⁴In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been.

⁵Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁶In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done.

⁷On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁸Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

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

¹⁰He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the LORD’s command.

¹¹So now the LORD said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

¹²But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son.

¹³And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”

¹⁴Then the LORD raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary.

¹⁵Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom.

¹⁶Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.

¹⁷But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.)

¹⁸They set out from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land.

¹⁹Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him his wife’s sister in marriage — the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

²⁰She bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons.

²¹When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my own country.”

²²“Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?” “Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.”

²³God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as Solomon’s adversary. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah,

²⁴and had become the leader of a gang of rebels. After David conquered Hadadezer, Rezon and his men fled to Damascus, where he became king.

²⁵Rezon was Israel’s bitter adversary for the rest of Solomon’s reign, and he made trouble, just as Hadad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and continued to reign in Aram.

²⁶Another rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim, and his mother was Zeruah, a widow.

²⁷This is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city of his father, David.

²⁸Jeroboam was a very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.

²⁹One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field,

³⁰and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you!

³²But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did.

³⁴“‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life.

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

³⁶His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name.

³⁷And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires.

³⁸If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹Because of Solomon’s sin I will punish the descendants of David — though not forever.’”

⁴⁰Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

⁴¹The rest of the events in Solomon’s reign, including all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in The Book of the Acts of Solomon.

⁴²Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

⁴³When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.

¹This message was given concerning Moab. This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “What sorrow awaits the city of Nebo; it will soon lie in ruins. The city of Kiriathaim will be humiliated and captured; the fortress will be humiliated and broken down.

²No one will ever brag about Moab again, for in Heshbon there is a plot to destroy her. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘we will cut her off from being a nation.’ The town of Madmen, too, will be silenced; the sword will follow you there.

³Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of devastation and great destruction.

⁴All Moab is destroyed. Her little ones will cry out.

⁵Her refugees weep bitterly, climbing the slope to Luhith. They cry out in terror, descending the slope to Horonaim.

⁶Flee for your lives! Hide in the wilderness!

⁷Because you have trusted in your wealth and skill, you will be taken captive. Your god Chemosh, with his priests and officials, will be hauled off to distant lands!

⁸“All the towns will be destroyed, and no one will escape — either on the plateaus or in the valleys, for the LORD has spoken.

⁹Oh, that Moab had wings so she could fly away, for her towns will be left empty, with no one living in them.

¹⁰Cursed are those who refuse to do the LORD’s work, who hold back their swords from shedding blood!

¹¹“From his earliest history, Moab has lived in peace, never going into exile. He is like wine that has been allowed to settle. He has not been poured from flask to flask, and he is now fragrant and smooth.

¹²But the time is coming soon,” says the LORD, “when I will send men to pour him from his jar. They will pour him out, then shatter the jar!

¹³At last Moab will be ashamed of his idol Chemosh, as the people of Israel were ashamed of their gold calf at Bethel.

¹⁴“You used to boast, ‘We are heroes, mighty men of war.’

¹⁵But now Moab and his towns will be destroyed. His most promising youth are doomed to slaughter,” says the King, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁶“Destruction is coming fast for Moab; calamity threatens ominously.

¹⁷You friends of Moab, weep for him and cry! See how the strong scepter is broken, how the beautiful staff is shattered!

¹⁸“Come down from your glory and sit in the dust, you people of Dibon, for those who destroy Moab will shatter Dibon, too. They will tear down all your towers.

¹⁹You people of Aroer, stand beside the road and watch. Shout to those who flee from Moab, ‘What has happened there?’

²⁰“And the reply comes back, ‘Moab lies in ruins, disgraced; weep and wail! Tell it by the banks of the Arnon River: Moab has been destroyed!’

²¹Judgment has been poured out on the towns of the plateau — on Holon and Jahaz and Mephaath,

²²on Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

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

²⁴on Kerioth and Bozrah — all the towns of Moab, far and near.

²⁵“The strength of Moab has ended. His arm has been broken,” says the LORD.

²⁶“Let him stagger and fall like a drunkard, for he has rebelled against the LORD. Moab will wallow in his own vomit, ridiculed by all.

²⁷Did you not ridicule the people of Israel? Were they caught in the company of thieves that you should despise them as you do?

²⁸“You people of Moab, flee from your towns and live in the caves. Hide like doves that nest in the clefts of the rocks.

²⁹We have all heard of the pride of Moab, for his pride is very great. We know of his lofty pride, his arrogance, and his haughty heart.

³⁰I know about his insolence,” says the LORD, “but his boasts are empty — as empty as his deeds.

³¹So now I wail for Moab; yes, I will mourn for Moab. My heart is broken for the men of Kir-hareseth.

³²“You people of Sibmah, rich in vineyards, I will weep for you even more than I did for Jazer. Your spreading vines once reached as far as the Dead Sea, but the destroyer has stripped you bare! He has harvested your grapes and summer fruits.

³³Joy and gladness are gone from fruitful Moab. The presses yield no wine. No one treads the grapes with shouts of joy. There is shouting, yes, but not of joy.

³⁴“Instead, their awful cries of terror can be heard from Heshbon clear across to Elealeh and Jahaz; from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up now.

³⁵“I will put an end to Moab,” says the LORD, “for the people offer sacrifices at the pagan shrines and burn incense to their false gods.

³⁶My heart moans like a flute for Moab and Kir-hareseth, for all their wealth has disappeared.

³⁷The people shave their heads and beards in mourning. They slash their hands and put on clothes made of burlap.

³⁸There is crying and sorrow in every Moabite home and on every street. For I have smashed Moab like an old, unwanted jar.

³⁹How it is shattered! Hear the wailing! See the shame of Moab! It has become an object of ridicule, an example of ruin to all its neighbors.”

⁴⁰This is what the LORD says: “Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle, spreading his wings over Moab.

⁴¹Its cities will fall, and its strongholds will be seized. Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

⁴²Moab will no longer be a nation, for it has boasted against the LORD.

⁴³“Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, O Moab,” says the LORD.

⁴⁴“Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. I will see to it that you do not get away, for the time of your judgment has come,” says the LORD.

⁴⁵“The people flee as far as Heshbon but are unable to go on. For a fire comes from Heshbon, King Sihon’s ancient home, to devour the entire land with all its rebellious people.

⁴⁶“What sorrow awaits you, O people of Moab! The people of the god Chemosh are destroyed! Your sons and your daughters have been taken away as captives.

⁴⁷But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come. I, the LORD, have spoken!” This is the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning Moab.

¹Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.

²The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.

⁴The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”

⁵But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.

⁶The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

⁷Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days.

⁸As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.

¹⁰As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

¹¹It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island — an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

¹²Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.

¹³From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷Three days after Paul’s arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors.

¹⁸The Romans tried me and wanted to release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence.

¹⁹But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people.

²⁰I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel — the Messiah — has already come.”

²¹They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here.

²²But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”

²³So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.

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

²⁵And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,

²⁶‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

²⁷For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes — so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

²⁸So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”

²⁹

³⁰For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,

³¹boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.