Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.

²Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

⁴He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

⁵Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.

⁷The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

⁸But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored.

¹¹But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

¹³When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

¹⁴Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,

¹⁵Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot,

¹⁶Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,

¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,

¹⁹and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

²⁷“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

²⁹If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

³³And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

³⁹He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁴³“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

⁴⁴Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

⁴⁵A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

⁴⁶“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

⁴⁷As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.

⁴⁸They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

¹Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.

²Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,

³taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

⁴When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him,

⁵‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’ ”

⁶Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—

⁸besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.

⁹Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.

¹⁰When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father.

¹¹When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.

¹²So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:

¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.

¹⁴After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

¹⁶So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:

¹⁷‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

¹⁸His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

²⁰You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

²¹So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

²²Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years

²³and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

²⁵And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

²⁶So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

²Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

³Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

⁵For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

⁷You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

⁸That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

⁹“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

¹⁰I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.

¹¹Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

¹²As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

¹³You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

¹⁴For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁵If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

¹After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.

²Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:

³“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

⁴Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

⁵From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

⁶from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

⁷from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

⁸from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

⁹After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

¹²saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

¹⁶‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

¹Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance.

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.

¹⁰Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

¹²Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

¹⁵So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night—

¹⁷then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

¹A psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets.

²From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

³Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.

⁴He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵“Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

⁶And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.

⁷“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God.

⁸I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.

⁹I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.

¹²If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹⁹You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.

²⁰You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.

²¹When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you.

²²“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

²³Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

¹Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse.

²Desire without knowledge is not good— how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

³A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will not go free.

⁶Many curry favor with a ruler, and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.

⁷The poor are shunned by all their relatives— how much more do their friends avoid them! Though the poor pursue them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found.

⁸The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury— how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

¹¹A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish child is a father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like the constant dripping of a leaky roof.

¹⁴Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.

¹⁶Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.

¹⁸Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

¹⁹A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

²¹Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

²²What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

²⁴A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!

²⁵Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

²⁷Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A corrupt witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.

²⁹Penalties are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

¹There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

²He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD.

⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.

⁶Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.

⁷This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

⁸Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house.

¹⁰In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹²As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk

¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.

¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

²⁰So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

²¹When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,

²²Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

²³“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

²⁵When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli,

²⁶and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

²⁷I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

²⁸So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

¹This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth its covering.”

⁴The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

⁵The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.

⁷Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

⁸He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!

⁹It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on their God.

¹¹But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

²When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

⁴I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

⁵as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.

⁹My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹²“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.

¹³He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

¹⁵You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

²⁰And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

³⁰The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.