Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

³They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.

⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.

⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

⁸So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. THE SHORTER ENDING OF MARK [[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]]

⁹[[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

¹⁰She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.

¹¹But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

¹²After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.

¹³And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

¹⁵And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.

¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

²⁰And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.]]

¹Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the top of his sack.

²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the top of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys.

⁴When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Go, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you returned evil for good? Why have you stolen my silver cup?

⁵Is it not from this that my lord drinks? Does he not indeed use it for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”

⁶When he overtook them, he repeated these words to them.

⁷They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

⁸Look, the money that we found at the top of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?

⁹Should it be found with any one of your servants, let him die; moreover the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰He said, “Even so; in accordance with your words, let it be: he with whom it is found shall become my slave, but the rest of you shall go free.”

¹¹Then each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.

¹²He searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

¹³At this they tore their clothes. Then each one loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house while he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him.

¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that one such as I can practice divination?”

¹⁶And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; here we are then, my lord’s slaves, both we and also the one in whose possession the cup has been found.”

¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the one in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸Then Judah stepped up to him and said, “O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’

²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’

²¹Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’

²²We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’

²³Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’

²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’

²⁶we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons;

²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since.

²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’

³⁰Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life,

³¹when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

³²For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.’

³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers.

³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father.”

¹It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows.

³And I know that such a person — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows —

⁴was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.

⁵On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.

⁶But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me,

⁷even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.

⁸Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me,

⁹but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

¹⁰Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have been a fool! You forced me to it. Indeed you should have been the ones commending me, for I am not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

¹²The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, signs and wonders and mighty works.

¹³How have you been worse off than the other churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here I am, ready to come to you this third time. And I will not be a burden, because I do not want what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶Let it be assumed that I did not burden you. Nevertheless (you say) since I was crafty, I took you in by deceit.

¹⁷Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?

¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves with the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? We are speaking in Christ before God. Everything we do, beloved, is for the sake of building you up.

²⁰For I fear that when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; I fear that there may perhaps be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

²¹I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and that I may have to mourn over many who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.

¹The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood,

⁶and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

⁹I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

¹⁰I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

¹¹saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

¹³and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.

¹⁴His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire,

¹⁵his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.

¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

¹⁸and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹⁹Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.

²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity.

²I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

³I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine — my mind still guiding me with wisdom — and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

⁴I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself;

⁵I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

⁶I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

⁷I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.

⁹So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

¹²So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.

¹⁵Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.

¹⁶For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?

¹⁷So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹⁸I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me

¹⁹— and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,

²¹because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²²What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?

²³For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;

²⁵for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

²⁶For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹We have heard with our ears, O God, our ancestors have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

²you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;

³for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, for you delighted in them.

⁴You are my King and my God; you command victories for Jacob.

⁵Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down our assailants.

⁶For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.

⁷But you have saved us from our foes, and have put to confusion those who hate us.

⁸In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹Yet you have rejected us and abased us, and have not gone out with our armies.

¹⁰You made us turn back from the foe, and our enemies have gotten spoil.

¹¹You have made us like sheep for slaughter, and have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.

¹³You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face

¹⁶at the words of the taunters and revilers, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you, or been false to your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way,

¹⁹yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,

²¹would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Because of you we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever!

²⁴Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.

²⁶Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

¹A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.

³Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.

⁴The appetite of the lazy craves, and gets nothing, while the appetite of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.

⁶Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.

¹⁶The clever do all things intelligently, but the fool displays folly.

¹⁷A bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy, healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace are for the one who ignores instruction, but one who heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire realized is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty.

¹Then all the Israelites came out, from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled in one body before the LORD at Mizpah.

²The chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot-soldiers bearing arms.

³(Now the Benjaminites heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites said, “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?”

⁴The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

⁵The lords of Gibeah rose up against me, and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she died.

⁶Then I took my concubine and cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the whole extent of Israel’s territory; for they have committed a vile outrage in Israel.

⁷So now, you Israelites, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

⁸All the people got up as one, saying, “We will not any of us go to our tents, nor will any of us return to our houses.

⁹But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot.

¹⁰We will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the troops, who are going to repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the disgrace that they have done in Israel.”

¹¹So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one.

¹²The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What crime is this that has been committed among you?

¹³Now then, hand over those scoundrels in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death, and purge the evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their kinsfolk, the Israelites.

¹⁴The Benjaminites came together out of the towns to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the Israelites.

¹⁵On that day the Benjaminites mustered twenty-six thousand armed men from their towns, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah.

¹⁶Of all this force, there were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair, and not miss.

¹⁷And the Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand armed men, all of them warriors.

¹⁸The Israelites proceeded to go up to Bethel, where they inquired of God, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites?” And the LORD answered, “Judah shall go up first.”

¹⁹Then the Israelites got up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.

²⁰The Israelites went out to battle against Benjamin; and the Israelites drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah.

²¹The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and struck down on that day twenty-two thousand of the Israelites.

²²The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until the evening; and they inquired of the LORD, “Shall we again draw near to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites?” And the LORD said, “Go up against them.” The Israelites took courage, and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

²³

²⁴So the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites the second day.

²⁵Benjamin moved out against them from Gibeah the second day, and struck down eighteen thousand of the Israelites, all of them armed men.

²⁶Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went back to Bethel and wept, sitting there before the LORD; they fasted that day until evening. Then they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being before the LORD.

²⁷And the Israelites inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

²⁸and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites, or shall we desist?” The LORD answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

²⁹So Israel stationed men in ambush around Gibeah.

³⁰Then the Israelites went up against the Benjaminites on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as before.

³¹When the Benjaminites went out against the army, they were drawn away from the city. As before they began to inflict casualties on the troops, along the main roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, as well as in the open country, killing about thirty men of Israel.

³²The Benjaminites thought, “They are being routed before us, as previously.” But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city toward the roads.”

³³The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west of Geba.

³⁴There came against Gibeah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was close upon them.

³⁵The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel; and the Israelites destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day, all of them armed.

³⁶Then the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated. The Israelites gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted to the troops in ambush that they had stationed against Gibeah.

³⁷The troops in ambush rushed quickly upon Gibeah. Then they put the whole city to the sword.

³⁸Now the agreement between the main body of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they sent up a cloud of smoke out of the city

³⁹the main body of Israel should turn in battle. But Benjamin had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites, killing about thirty of them; so they thought, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”

⁴⁰But when the cloud, a column of smoke, began to rise out of the city, the Benjaminites looked behind them — and there was the whole city going up in smoke toward the sky!

⁴¹Then the main body of Israel turned, and the Benjaminites were dismayed, for they saw that disaster was close upon them.

⁴²Therefore they turned away from the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the city were slaughtering them in between.

⁴³Cutting down the Benjaminites, they pursued them from Nohah and trod them down as far as a place east of Gibeah.

⁴⁴Eighteen thousand Benjaminites fell, all of them courageous fighters.

⁴⁵When they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, five thousand of them were cut down on the main roads, and they were pursued as far as Gidom, and two thousand of them were slain.

⁴⁶So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand arms-bearing men, all of them courageous fighters.

⁴⁷But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and remained at the rock of Rimmon for four months.

⁴⁸Meanwhile, the Israelites turned back against the Benjaminites, and put them to the sword — the city, the people, the animals, and all that remained. Also the remaining towns they set on fire.

¹But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!

²Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you in the womb and will help you: Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.

⁴They shall spring up like a green tamarisk, like willows by flowing streams.

⁵This one will say, “I am the LORD’s,” another will be called by the name of Jacob, yet another will write on the hand, “The LORD’s,” and adopt the name of Israel.

⁶Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

⁷Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be.

⁸Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.

⁹All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know. And so they will be put to shame.

¹⁰Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?

¹¹Look, all its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans too are merely human. Let them all assemble, let them stand up; they shall be terrified, they shall all be put to shame.

¹²The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals, shaping it with hammers, and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint.

¹³The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine.

¹⁴He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it.

¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!”

¹⁷The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸They do not know, nor do they comprehend; for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand.

¹⁹No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”

²⁰He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

²²I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth;

²⁵who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns back the wise, and makes their knowledge foolish;

²⁶who confirms the word of his servant, and fulfills the prediction of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,” and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt, and I will raise up their ruins”;

²⁷who says to the deep, “Be dry — I will dry up your rivers”;

²⁸who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he shall carry out all my purpose”; and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”

¹Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek.

²He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium.

³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;

⁸so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

¹¹We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.

¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”

¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews

²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”

²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

³⁵When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

³⁶And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens;

³⁹so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.