Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

³And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’ ”

⁵And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

⁶And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

⁷Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

⁸Jesus replied to him, “It is written: ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

⁹And he brought Him into Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

¹⁰for it is written: ‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS ORDERS CONCERNING YOU, TO PROTECT YOU,’

¹¹and, ‘ON their hands they will lift YOU UP, SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been stated, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

¹³And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

¹⁴And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region.

¹⁵And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

¹⁷And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

²⁰And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him.

²¹Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in yourhearing.”

²²And all the people were speaking well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from His lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³And He said to them, “No doubt you willquote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”

²⁴But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

²⁵But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when asevere famine came over all the land;

²⁶and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only toZarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

²⁷And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them wascleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

²⁹and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff.

³⁰But He passed through their midst and went on His way.

³¹And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee; and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

³²and they were amazed at His teaching, because His message was delivered with authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴“Leave us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.

³⁶And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

³⁷And the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

³⁸Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.

³⁹And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

⁴⁰Now while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was laying His hands on each one of them and healing them.

⁴¹Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” And yet He was rebuking them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

⁴²Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

⁴³But He said to them, “I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, because I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

¹Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

²When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed.

³Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,

⁴and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.

⁶But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, so that I may bless them.”

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. And Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well!”

¹²Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.

¹³And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

¹⁴But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

¹⁶The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the boys; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” And so he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

²²And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

¹You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

²This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

³Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

⁴Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

⁵So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

⁶Just as Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷Therefore, recognize that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

⁸The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”

⁹So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

¹⁰For all who are of works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written: “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THE THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”

¹¹Now, that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH.”

¹²However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “THE PERSON WHO PERFORMS THEM WILL LIVE BY THEM.”

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”—

¹⁴in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

¹⁷What I am saying is this: the Law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

¹⁹Why the Law then? It was added on account of the violations, having been ordered through angels at the hand of a mediator, until the Seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

²⁰Now a mediator is not for one party only; but God is only one.

²¹Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Far from it! For if a law had been given that was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

²²But the Scripture has confined everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being confined for the faith that was destined to be revealed.

²⁴Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

²⁶For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

¹I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.

²And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”

³And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

⁴Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

⁵And one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

⁷And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

⁸When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

¹⁰You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

¹²saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”

¹³And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”

¹⁴And the four living creatures were saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread among mankind:

²a person to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to enjoy these things, but a foreigner enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction.

³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

⁴for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness.

⁵It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet it is better off than that man.

⁶Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—do not all go to one and the same place?”

⁷All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not satisfied.

⁸For what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living?

⁹What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with the one who is mightier than he is.

¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person?

¹²For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person what will happen after him under the sun?

¹Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, His holy mountain.

²Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King.

³In its palaces, God has made Himself known as a stronghold.

⁴For, behold, the kings arrived, They passed by together.

⁵They saw it, then they were amazed; They were terrified, they fled in a hurry.

⁶Panic seized them there, Anguish, as that of a woman in childbirth.

⁷With the east wind You smash the ships of Tarshish.

⁸Just as we have heard, so have we seen In the city of the LORD of armies, in the city of our God; God will establish her forever. Selah

⁹We have thought over Your goodness, God, In the midst of Your temple.

¹⁰As is Your name, God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Mount Zion shall be glad, The daughters of Judah shall rejoice Because of Your judgments.

¹²Walk around Zion and encircle her; Count her towers;

¹³Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces, So that you may tell of her to the next generation.

¹⁴For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will lead us until death.

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Then her mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may go well for you?

²Now then, is Boaz not our relative, with whose young women you were? Behold, he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight.

³Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not reveal yourself to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

⁴And it shall be when he lies down, that you shall take notice of the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you should do.”

⁵And she said to her, “All that you say I will do.”

⁶So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her.

⁷When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.

⁸And it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

⁹So he said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your slave. Now spread your garment over your slave, for you are a redeemer.”

¹⁰Then he said, “May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first, by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.

¹¹So now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you say, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.

¹²But now, although it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is also a redeemer more closely related than I.

¹³Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the LORD lives. Lie down until morning.”

¹⁴So she lay at his feet until morning, and got up before one person could recognize another; and he said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

¹⁵Again he said, “Give me the shawl that is on you and hold it.” So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.

¹⁶When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her.

¹⁷She also said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”

¹⁸Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.”

¹“Hear this, house of Jacob, who are named Israel And who came from the waters of Judah, Who swear by the name of the LORD And invoke the God of Israel, But not in truth nor in righteousness.

²For they name themselves after the holy city, And lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of armies is His name.

³I declared the former things long ago, And they went out of My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

⁴Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron tendon And your forehead bronze,

⁵Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, And my carved image and my cast metal image have commanded them.’

⁶You have heard; look at all this. And you, will you not declare it? I proclaim to you new things from this time, Hidden things which you have not known.

⁷They are created now and not long ago; And before today you have not heard them, So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

⁸You have not heard, you have not known. Even from long ago your ear has not been open, Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously; And you have been called a rebel from birth.

⁹For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off.

¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.

¹²“Listen to Me, Jacob, Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.

¹³Assuredly My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.

¹⁴Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure against Babylon, And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

¹⁵I, yes I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.

¹⁶Come near to Me, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

¹⁷This is what the LORD says, He who is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to benefit, Who leads you in the way you should go.

¹⁸If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

¹⁹Your descendants would have been like the sand, And your offspring like its grains; Their name would never be eliminated or destroyed from My presence.”

²⁰Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed out.

²²“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had encouraged them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

³And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵Now these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and reached them at Troas within five days; and we stayed there for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered together.

⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.”

¹¹When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

¹³But we went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to lose time in Asia; for he was hurrying, if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church.

¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

²⁶Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all people.

²⁷For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

³²And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me.

³⁵In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  ”

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.