Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,

²and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

³Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

⁶And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

⁷They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

⁹For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,

¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

¹¹And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

¹²While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

¹³And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

¹⁵But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.

¹⁶But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

¹⁷On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

¹⁸And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,

¹⁹but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.

²⁰And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?

²³Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?

²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he said to the man who was paralyzed — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

²⁵And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.

²⁶And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

²⁷After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁸And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

³⁰And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

³³And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

³⁴And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

³⁵ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

³⁸But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

³⁹And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

¹Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.

²“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.

³“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

⁴Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it — he went up to my couch!

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

⁶Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³“Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds.

¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.

¹⁶“Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

¹⁹“Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.

²⁰“Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.

²¹“Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.

²³The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely,

²⁴yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

²⁵by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.

²⁹Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.

³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah —

³²the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”

³³When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

¹I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,

²but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

³In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

⁵to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

⁶And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

⁹But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

¹⁰You observe days and months and seasons and years!

¹¹I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

¹²Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.

¹³You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,

¹⁴and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

¹⁵What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

¹⁸It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,

¹⁹my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!

²⁰I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

²³But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

²⁴Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.

²⁵Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

²⁷For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

³¹So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

¹Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

⁴And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

⁸And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

¹¹Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

¹²When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

¹⁶calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

¹A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

²It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

⁶For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

⁸Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

¹⁰Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun.

¹²For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

¹³Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

¹⁶Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

¹⁷Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

¹⁹Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

²¹Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.

²²Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

²³All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.

²⁴That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

²⁵I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.

²⁶And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.

²⁷Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things —

²⁸which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.

²⁹See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

¹Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor together!

³My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

⁶those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,

⁸for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,

⁹that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

¹⁰For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names.

¹²Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.

¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

¹⁸For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed — and though you get praise when you do well for yourself —

¹⁹his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.

²⁰Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

¹Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

²A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

⁵It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.

⁶A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.

⁷A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

⁹Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

¹¹A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.

¹²Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

¹³If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

¹⁴A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?

¹⁵An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.

¹⁷The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.

¹⁸The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders.

¹⁹A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

²⁰From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

²³The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly.

²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

¹Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.

²And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.

³Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

⁴So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

⁶Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.

⁸So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.

⁹Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon.

¹⁰Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

¹¹Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem,

¹²and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!

¹⁵He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

¹⁶Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.

¹⁷And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,

¹⁹Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,

²⁰Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,

²¹Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed,

²²Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

¹Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

³And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.”

⁵And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him — for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength —

⁶he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages,

⁹saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does.

¹⁹“Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land — surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: ‘The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart: ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come?’”

²²Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?

²⁵For thus says the LORD: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the LORD your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

¹And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed

⁶and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

⁸On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

¹⁰While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

¹⁵After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

¹⁷When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.

¹⁸On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law,

²¹and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

²²What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;

²⁴take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

²⁵But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

³²He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

³⁵And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?

³⁸Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: