Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,

²and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);

³Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

⁴As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable:

⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.

⁶Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

⁸Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

⁹Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

¹²The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

¹³And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.

¹⁴As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.

¹⁵But the seed in the good ground — these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

¹⁶“No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see its light.

¹⁷For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light.

¹⁸Therefore take care how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

¹⁹Then his mother and brothers came to him, but they could not meet with him because of the crowd.

²⁰He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”

²²One day he and his disciples got into a boat, and he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they set out,

²³and as they were sailing he fell asleep. Then a fierce windstorm came down on the lake; they were being swamped and were in danger.

²⁴They came and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him!”

²⁶Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.

²⁷When he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house but in the tombs.

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”

²⁹For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was guarded, bound by chains and shackles, he would snap the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.

³⁰“What is your name?” Jesus asked him. “Legion,” he said, because many demons had entered him.

³¹And they begged him not to banish them to the abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him to permit them to enter the pigs, and he gave them permission.

³³The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside.

³⁵Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus’s feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

³⁶Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered.

³⁷Then all the people of the Gerasene region asked him to leave them, because they were gripped by great fear. So getting into the boat, he returned.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had departed begged him earnestly to be with him. But he sent him away and said,

³⁹“Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.

⁴¹Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’s feet and pleaded with him to come to his house,

⁴²because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying. While he was going, the crowds were nearly crushing him.

⁴³A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years, who had spent all she had on doctors and yet could not be healed by any,

⁴⁴approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶“Someone did touch me,” said Jesus. “I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched him and how she was instantly healed.

⁴⁸“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰When Jesus heard it, he answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”

⁵¹After he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother.

⁵²Everyone was crying and mourning for her. But he said, “Stop crying, because she is not dead but asleep.”

⁵³They laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

⁵⁴So he took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!”

⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then he gave orders that she be given something to eat.

⁵⁶Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

¹Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

²The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

⁴Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

⁵Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it,

⁶opened it, and saw him, the child — and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”

⁸“Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother.

⁹Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.

¹⁰When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people.

¹²Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand.

¹³The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor?”

¹⁴“Who made you a commander and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid and thought, “What I did is certainly known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

¹⁹They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰“So where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

²²She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land.”

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor; and they cried out; and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

²⁴And God heard their groaning; and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

²⁵and God saw the Israelites; and God knew.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.

⁴For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

⁵He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

⁸that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the right time  — to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

¹¹In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will,

¹²so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.

¹³In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

¹⁴The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

¹⁶I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

²⁰He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens  —

²¹far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

¹The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him.

²He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.

³Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth.

⁴They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.

⁵They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone.

⁶In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces;

⁸they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth;

⁹they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle;

¹⁰and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months.

¹¹They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

¹²The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.

¹³The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, I heard a voice

¹⁴say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.”

¹⁵So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race.

¹⁶The number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.

¹⁷This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.

¹⁸A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues — by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths.

¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.

²⁰The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

²¹And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

¹Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²A wise person’s heart goes to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left.

³Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense, and he shows everyone he is a fool.

⁴If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your post, for calmness puts great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:

⁶The fool is appointed to great heights, but the rich remain in lowly positions.

⁷I have seen slaves on horses, but princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸The one who digs a pit may fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

⁹The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them; the one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

¹²The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly, but the end of his speaking is evil madness;

¹⁴yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what will happen, and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

¹⁵The struggles of fools weary them, for they don’t know how to go to the city.

¹⁶Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time — for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁸Because of laziness the roof caves in, and because of negligent hands the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy, and money is the answer for everything.

²⁰Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry the message, and a winged creature may report the matter.

¹For the choir director. A of David. When Doeg the Edomite went and reported to Saul, telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.” [1] Why boast about evil, you hero! God’s faithful love is constant.

²Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery.

³You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully. Selah

⁴You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!

⁵This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear, and they will derisively say about that hero,

⁷“Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior.”

⁸But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.

⁹I will praise you forever for what you have done. In the presence of your faithful people, I will put my hope in your name, for it is good.

¹A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.

²All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs hearts.

³Doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart  — is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.

⁶Making a fortune through a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a pursuit of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to act justly.

⁸A guilty one’s conduct is crooked, but the behavior of the innocent is upright.

⁹Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

¹⁰A wicked person desires evil; he has no consideration for his neighbor.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the inexperienced become wiser; when one teaches a wise man, he acquires knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; he brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out and not be answered.

¹⁴A secret gift soothes anger, and a covert bribe, fierce rage.

¹⁵Justice executed is a joy to the righteous but a terror to those who practice iniquity.

¹⁶The person who strays from the way of prudence will come to rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

¹⁷The one who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.

¹⁸The wicked are a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous, for the upright.

¹⁹Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

²⁰Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a fool consumes them.

²¹The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down its secure fortress.

²³The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

²⁴The arrogant and proud person, named “Mocker,” acts with excessive arrogance.

²⁵A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶He is filled with craving all day long, but the righteous give and don’t hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of a wicked person is detestable — how much more so when he brings it with ulterior motives!

²⁸A lying witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak successfully.

²⁹A wicked person puts on a bold face, but the upright one considers his way.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel will prevail against the LORD.

³¹A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the LORD.

¹The boy Samuel served the LORD in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the LORD was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

²One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place.

³Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was located.

⁴Then the LORD called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”

⁵He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸Once again, for the third time, the LORD called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the boy.

⁹He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The LORD came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹The LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that everyone who hears about it will shudder.

¹²On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end.

¹³I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them.

¹⁴Therefore, I have sworn to Eli’s family: The iniquity of Eli’s family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the LORD’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

¹⁶but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel.

¹⁷“What was the message he gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that he told you.”

¹⁸So Samuel told him everything and did not hide anything from him. Eli responded, “He is the LORD. Let him do what he thinks is good.”

¹⁹Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.

²⁰All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the LORD.

²¹The LORD continued to appear in Shiloh, because there he revealed himself to Samuel by his word.

¹“Wake up, wake up; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer enter you.

²Stand up, shake the dust off yourself! Take your seat, Jerusalem. Remove the bonds from your neck, captive Daughter Zion.”

³For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without silver.”

⁴For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to reside there, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.

⁵So now what have I here” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “that my people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and my name is continually blasphemed all day long.

⁶Therefore my people will know my name; therefore they will know on that day that I am he who says: Here I am.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸The voices of your watchmen  — they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the LORD returns to Zion.

⁹Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has displayed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

¹¹Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

¹²For you will not leave in a hurry, and you will not have to take flight; because the LORD is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

¹³See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at you  — his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being —

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.

¹Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.

³We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.

⁵For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him. By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁷

⁸

⁹The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.

¹¹You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.

¹⁷After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.

¹⁸While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

¹⁹It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

²¹other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

²²Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.

²⁴Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money. So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.